RC" 


SPEECH-HESITATION 


E.J.Ellery  Thorpe. 


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LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIF^T  OF" 


S 

.. 


PRESIDENT'S  OFFICE, 

CLARK  UNIVERSITY. 

WORCESTER,  MASS. 

I  have  just  read  "  Speech  Hesitation "  by  Mrs.  E.  J. 
Thorpe,  with  much  interest. 

Her  method  has  the  distinct  advantage  over  nearly  all 
others  that  I  have  known  in  that  it  is  laid  on  a  definite,  and, 
as  I  think,  a  correct  conception  of  what  are  probably  the 
most  common  causes  of  the  difficulty  and  seeks  by  a  ration- 
al and  systematic  method  to  remove  them.  I  am  not  sur- 
prised at  the  success  she  has  met  with,  becanse,  too,  of  the 
careful  study  of  individual  cases  upon  which  she  bases  her 
treatment. 

The-whole  subject  is  one  of  the  most  peculiar  and  scien- 
tifically interesting  in  all  the  field  of  education.  I  am 
heartily  in*  accord  with  her  conviction  that  one  of  the  most 
urgent  needs  in  view  of  the  large  per  cent,  afflicted,  and  of 
the  kind  of  treatment  needed,  is  for  an  institution  where 
this  very  grave  and  painful,  but  most  curable  affliction  of 
childhood  and  youth  can  be  treated  with  conditions  so  con- 
trolled as  to  make  the  prospect  of  cure  most  favorable. 

Wealthy  philanthropists,  and,  if  need  be,  legislators 
should  be  appealed  to. 

May  30,  1899.  G.  STANLEY  HALL. 


SPEECH  HESITATION 


BY 


E.  J.  ELLERY  THORPE 


NEW   YORK 

EDGAR  S.  WERNER  PUBLISHING  &  SUPPLY  CO. 

1900 


i 


Copyrighit 

1898 
BY  E.  J.  E.  THORPE 


TO   MY   PUPILS, 

WHO   HAVE   FURNISHED   THE   MEANS   BY   WHICH 

THESE  TRUTHS  HAVE  BEEN  EVOLVED, 
THIS  SMALL  VOLUME  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED. 

E.  J.  E.  THORPE. 

Newton  Centre,  Mass. 


SPEECH-HESITATION 

CHAPTER  I. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  a  man  of  a  clear,  sharp 
and1  powerful  mind  and  reasoning  according  to  sound 
and  correct  principles  may  yet,  owing  to  his  defective 
knowledge  of  facts,  arrive  at  conclusions  directly  op- 
posed to  truth. — MAX  MULLER. 

A  LOVE  of  dramatic  reading  in  early  youth,  and  the 
foundation  in  general  voice-training  laid  by  sem- 
inary and  normal  school  drill  in  singing  and  in  oratory, 
together  with  membership  in  the  New  York  Harmonic 
Society  and  in  choirs,  including  that  of  Plymouth  Church ; 
association  and  practice  with  graduates  of  the  best  schools 
of  oratory,  notably  with  one  who  had  studied  under  the 
famous  James  E.  Murdoch,  and  who  brought  to  me  the 
best  thought  of  that  great  actor  and  elocutionist,  were  the 
means  by  which  my  attention  was  called  to  the  physical 
affection  that  is  the  subject  of  this  book. 

Together  my  friend  and  I  studied  the  various  methods 
of  breathing,  practiced  the  stroke  of  the  glottis  and  the 
formation  of  sound  at  the  front  of  the  mouth,  and  gave 
much  attention  to  articulation.  But  speech-affection  at 
that  time  was  not  a  matter  that  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  general  educator.  In  my  several  years'  teaching  in 
one  of  the  largest  public  schools  of  New  York  City — 


6  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

the  daily  attendance  in  its  primary  department  avera- 
ging over  1,000 — and  where  the  teachers  constantly  met 
to  discuss  educational  needs — I  observed  that  no  allusion 
was  ever  made  to  any  case  of  hesitancy  in  speech  that 
might  exist  among  the  pupils. 

It  is  now  more  than  thirty  years  since  I  began  to  study 
my  first  case  of  this  affection,  and  it  seemed  to  my  inex- 
perienced mind  like  a  new  form  of  a  very  old  difficulty, — 
one  that  would  yield  readily  to  the  ordinary  vocal  drilL 
In  utter  ignorance  that  this  was  one  of  the  greatest  prob- 
lems, that  medical  men  and  philosophers  had  studied  it 
carefully,  that  many  theories  had  been  advanced  and  much 
done  to  find  the  cause  and  the  remedy,  I  set  to  work  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm.  I  reasoned  that  as  the  subject 
failed  to  produce  certain  sounds,  therefore  he  must  learn 
their  nature,  and  practice  until  he  could  produce  them. 
This  reasoning  was  false,  as  was  afterward  seen. 

The  breathing-exercises  and  articulations  were  prac- 
ticed diligently,  in  full  expectation  of  complete  success. 
The  contraction  of  the  vocal  cords,  which  prevented  the 
formation  of  the  vowel-sounds,  and  the  want  of  control 
of  lips  and  tongue  were  supposed  to  be  caused  by  weak- 
ness; therefore,  lips,  tongue,  and  vocal  cords  were  exer- 
cised in  the  expectation  that  increased  strength  would 
give  greater  freedom  of  action.  The  theory  was  that 
clearness  in  speaking  must  come  through  phonic  drill; 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  7 

but  the  more  conscientious  the  training,  the  less  capable 
were  the  vocal  organs  of  doing  their  work. 

Great  attention  was  given  to  the  refractory  sounds, 
always  supposing  them  to  be  consonants.  They  were 
practiced  before  and  after  the  vowels;  words  in  which 
they  and  their  combinations  occurred  were  woven  into 
sentences,  and  readings  were  selected  for  this  especial  pur- 
pose. When  a  half  day  had  been  spent  in  this  way,  the 
pupil  was  sent  out  to  make  a  trial  of  his  strength  on  some 
errand  or  by  the  use  of  these  particular  words  among 
his  playmates.  The  invariable  report  on  his  return  would 
be: 

"I  could  not  speak  the  words.  They  never  were  so 
hard  before." 

"But,"  I  would  say,  "you  have  said  them  to  me  hun- 
dreds of  times.  Why  could  you  not  say  them  then  ?" 

"I  do  not  know,  but  it  was  impossible  to  speak  them." 

Slowly  and  vaguely  the  truth  began  to  dawn  upon  my 
mind  that  this  kind  of  drill  was  emphasizing  and  increas- 
ing, rather  than  decreasing,  the  difficulty,  and,  conse- 
quently, adding  to  a  fear  that  the  pupil  had  of  trying  to 
make  these  sounds.  I  began  to  see  that,  once  made,  he 
could  go  on  repeating  them  indefinitely;  but  that  after 
an  interval  they  were  as  difficult  as  before. 

There  was  a  baffling,  inexplainable  mystery  in  it  that 


8  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

surprised  and  interested  me.  I  felt  assured  that  someone 
must  know  all  about  it.  My  friends,  the  elocutionists, 
were  consulted,  and  their  opinions  agreed  perfectly  with 
all  that  had  been  done.  One  of  the  best  authorities  said 
to  me:  "The  breathing  must  be  corrected,  and  there  is 
but  one  way  to  form  each  sound.  This  must  be  learned. 
These  two  things  accomplished,  anyone  must  be  able  to 
talk."  As  time  went  on,  quite  a  number  having  the  diffi- 
culty trusted  themselves  to  my  experiments,  and  some 
really  gained  confidence  and  were  improved.  Some  per- 
sons can  by  such  drill  go  so  far  as  to  declaim,  perhaps,  in 
public.  This  accounts  for  a  great  many  so-called  "cures," 
and  assists  greatly  in  filling  tables  of  statistics.  Some- 
one has  said :  "There  are  three  kinds  of  untruths :  Lies, 
white  lies,  and  statistics;"  and  when  statistics  are  made 
on  this  basis,  we  may  well  question  their  validity. 

It  is  not  unusual  that  one  can  speak  upon  the  platform 
who  in  private  converses  with  the  greatest  difficulty. 
He  can  do  something.  The  average  person  who  hesitates 
can  talk  or  declaim,  at  times,  but  the  contraction  is  there, 
always  ready  to  assert  itself.  While  that  is  true,  he  is 
practically  no  better,  because  nothing  new  has  been  in- 
troduced, and  the  work,  on  the  whole,  is  not  satisfactory. 
My  work  was  pursued  as  one  works  upon  a  puzzle.  At 
times  a  clue  would  seem  to  be  found,  only  to  disappear 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  g 

and  leave  the  matter  as  dark  as  before.  The  questions 
were  beginning  to  arise :  "If  these  persons  can  sometimes 
speak  words  voluntarily  and  can  repeat  them  after  they 
have  been  spoken  by  others,  do  they  need  to  learn  their 
construction?  If  the  breathing  is  perfect  before  the  at- 
tempt to  speak,  is  it  the  breathing  that  affects  the  speech, 
or  the  speech  that  affects  the  breathing?" 

At  this  stage  of  investigation  the  Centennial  took  me  to 
Philadelphia,  and  a  call  was  made  upon  Mme.  Seller.  I 
had  read  her  "Voice  in  Speaking"  and  "Voice  in  Sing- 
ing," and  knew  her  by  reputation  as  one  skilled  in  voice- 
training,  and  also  that  she  had  received  some  pupils  who 
needed  instruction  in  speaking.  She  talked  freely  upon 
the  subject.  She  said  that  although  the  voice  in  singing 
was  her  special  work,  she  had  by  request  taken  pupils  who 
needed  instruction  in  speaking.  Her  plan  was  to  train  the 
pupil  first  upon  the  least  difficult  sounds,  and  when  these 
were  conquered  he  went  on  to  those  that  were  more  dif- 
ficult, and  was  drilled  in  this  way  until  he  had  mastered 
them  all. 

Then  I  asked:  "What  does  he  do  when  away  from 
yon?  Can  he  make  these  sounds  then?" 

She  said:  "I  have  never  inquired.  If  he  can  speak 
every  word  when  with  me,  why  can  he  not  do  the  same 
when  away  from  me?" 


10  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

I  replied :  "That  is  the  special  difficulty.  They  all  can 
read  and  talk  with  me  after  a  certain  time,  but  when 
away  from  me  the  sounds  are  as  difficult  as  before, — per- 
haps more  so." 

Then  she  said :  "You  have  gone  farther  in  this  matter 
than  I  have,  and  it  is  of  no  use  to  talk  with  me." 

Mme.  Seiler  invited  me  to  be  present  while  she  gave  a 
lesson  in  vocal  music.  It  differed  from  anything  in  vocal 
training  than  I  had  heard  before.  She  said,  "You 
must  make  a  tunnel  of  your  body ;  there  must  be  no  stop 
along  the  way."  I  saw  that  those  who  hesitate  in  speak- 
ing do  stop  along  the  way,  and  that  the  ordinary  theory 
of  diaphragmatic  breathing  and  speaking  is  a  theory 
only  when  coupled  with  phonic  drill. 

Up  to  this  time  the  difficulty  seemed  to  be  entirely  with 
the  consonants,  but  a  case  came  under  my  care  in  which 
the  vowels  stopped  in  the  throat.  The  muscles  of  thj 
throat  closed  and  prevented  the  possibility  of  making 
any  sound.  Plainly  the  sharp  attack  upon  the  vowel  with 
the  throat-muscles,  which  had  been  a  conspicuous  part 
of  my  education,  would  never  do  in  a  case  like  this,  and 
I  groped  my  way  towrard  the  open  passage  theory,  first 
experimenting  upon  myself.  Yet  so  strong  was  the  in- 
fluence of  long  training  and  deeply  rooted  prejudice  that 
although  the  effect  was  at  least  partly  clear,  it  was  ten 
years  before  the  old  method  was  given  up  entirely.  It 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  1 1 

was  held  so  long,  partly  because  the  truth  dawned  so 
slowly  and  partly  because  of  the  question:  "If  this  is 
given  up,  what  remains  to  be  done  ?" 

My  efforts  in  articulative  training  ended  with  a  boy  who 
told  me  that  a  certain  sound  was  impossible  to  him. 
Without  letting  him  know,  I  managed  to  introduce  that 
sound  continually;  but  the  next  day  it  was  more  trying 
than  before,  and  besides,  other  sounds,  apparently  easy, 
had  become  suddenly  difficult.  That  experience  sufficed, 
and  ended  my  practice  of  articulative  drill.  Some  of  the 
persons  who  received  that  drill  would  go  away  alone. 
Perhaps  they  would  spend  a  day  in  the  woods,  and  work 
upon  the  troublesome  sounds  with  a  fixed  determination 
that  they  should  be  conquered.  What  they  really  did  was 
to  strengthen  and  to  increase  a  muscular  contraction  that 
was  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  to  increase  the  dread  of 
sounds  that  had  become  already  objects  of  fear.  It 
would  be  well  if  the  work  of  those  years  could  be  re- 
called; 'but  as  my  work  has  led  on  to  better  methods  I 
have  felt  the  force  of  Phillips  Brooks's  words,  which  were 
of  course  applied  to  quite  a  different  realm  of  thought: 
''Why  mourn  your  sins?  They  are  the  stepping-stones 
to  a  higher  life." 

Lengthening  the  sound  is  practically  singing,  and  with 
few  exceptions  the  persons  who  hesitate  in  speaking  are 
able  to  sing.  Length  without  strength  is  a  drawl,  and 


1 2  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

drawling  is  not  speaking  in  the  best  manner.  In  speak- 
ing, we  utilize  the  outgoing  breath,  but  are  not  expected 
to  lengthen  that  breath  much  beyond  its  ordinary  use. 
It  is  necessary  for  some  persons  to  work  deliberately  at 
first  until  they  have  acquired  a  habit  of  placing  the  energy 
correctly;  but  we  must  not  rely  so  much  upon  the  means 
as  to  forget  the  object  to  be  attained.  The  door  of  truth 
opens  slowly,  and  often  we  think  that  we  have  reached  the 
main  entrance  when  we  have  found  only  the  guide-board 
th;>t  points  to  the  outer  portal. 

New  difficulties  arose.  Practicing  articulations  in 
suc'h  a  way  'as  to  eliminate  the  effort  introduced  an  abnor- 
mal care  and  increased  the  fear,  w;hich  was  always  a  se 
rious  complication.  Besides,  the  words  lacked  charac- 
ter; the  life  seemed  to  be  gone  from  them.  There  was 
constant  danger  of  being  asked  to  repeat,  an  experience 
that  the  pupil  always  greatly  dreaded.  The  care  exer- 
cised in  lessening  the  force  upon  the  consonants  brought 
them  more  prominently  before  the  mind,  and  increased 
the  morbid  mental  condition;  and  if  consonants  were  so 
much  reduced,  on  what  were  we  to  rely  in  making  our- 
selves understood  ?  Confident  that  the  question  must  have 
been  answered  by  someone  somewhere,  all  the  literature 
to  be  found  upon  the  subject  was  thoroughly  investigated. 
In  studying  various  methods,  I  was  greatly  assisted  by 
those  published  by  Edgar  S.  Werner  in  his  Voice  Maga- 
zine. 


SPEECH-HESITATION.  13 

A  physician  has  said,  "The  subject  has  not  received 
the  attention  it  deserves  from  physicians."  But  except 
Lord  Bacon,  Aristotle,  Mendelssohn,  and  a  few  others, 
those  who  have  written  upon  it  have  been  among  the  con- 
spicuous physicians  of  their  time,  and  each  writer,  almost 
without  exception,  had  a  personal  interest  in  finding  the 
truth. 

The  list  of  writers  (including  Hippocrates,  300  B.  C., 
who  believed  the  cause  to  be  dryness  of  the  tongue)  is 
too  long  to  be  given  here.  The  various  causes  given  were 
a  lesion  of  the  brain,  nervous  affections,  spasm  or  closure 
of  the  glottis,  abnormal  conditions  of  the  tongue,  uvula, 
palate,  pharynx,  hyoid-bone,  jaw  or  teeth,  imperfect  res- 
piration, sluggish  mentality,  muscular  debility,  physical 
influences,  bad  vocalization,  timidity,  diseased  tonsils  or 
nasal  cavities,  paralysis,  contraction  of  the  genioglossus 
muscles,  retraction  of  the  lingual  muscles,  etc.  But  all 
my  subsequent  experience  goes  to  prove  that  in  eac'h  par- 
ticular, effect  was  mistaken  for  cause.  As  remedies,  the 
oldest  practitioners  used  lotions,  gargles  and  washes  for 
the  tongue  and  the  neck.  Following  these  were  eminent 
authorities,  Who  practiced  breathing,  articulative  exer- 
cises and  rhythm.  During  the  year  1841  surgical  opera- 
tions raged  till  stopped  by  government  authority. 

Mechanical  contrivances,  beginning  with  the  pebbles 


14  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

of  Demosthenes  and  continuing  in  the  fork  of  Itard, 
the  ivory  plates  of  Colombat,  the  whalebone  of  Male- 
bouche,  the  piece  of  wood  under  the  tongue  by  Dr. 
Klencke,  and  Bates's  appliances,  are  in  some  form  in  use 
at  the  present  day. 

The  use  of  tricks  began  in  1837  with  the  American 
method  of  Mrs.  Leigh,  which  was  striking  the  tongue 
against  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  Dr.  Arnott  suggested 
placing  short  e  before  every  word.  Dr.  Voisin  in  1837 
pressed  'the  thumb  upon  the  chin.  Dr.  Graves  (1848) 
suggested  holding  a  stick  in  the  right  hand,  with  which 
to  strike  the  forefinger  of  the  left.  The  object  of  the 
trick  being  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  person  from 
himself,  any  movement  not  in  general  use  would  serve 
the  purpose.  The  marketable  tricks  of  the  present  time 
are :  Pressing  together  the  thumb  and  the  finger,  winking, 
waving  the  hand,  turning  a  roll  of  paper,  throwing  back 
the  head,  etc.  These  are  sold  as  great  secrets.  They  are 
lon'g-lived,  because  human  nature  loves  mystery. 

In  this  medley  of  opinion  the  question  was,  What,  if 
anything,  is  right?  for  the  supporters  of  each  theory 
were  in  their  day  of  highest  standing  and  reputation. 
And  again,  can  rhythm,  any  vocal  gymnastic  or  sur- 
gical operation  or  trick,  remove  chorea,  lesion  o'f  the 
brain,  or  spasm  of  the  glottis?  Dr.  Chigon  (1838) 
asked,  "How  can  a  disease  be  removed  before  we  know 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  1 5 

the  cause  ?"  Some  physicians  said,  "We  do  not  know  the 
cause,  and  we  never  can  know ;  all  attempts  to  relieve  the 
difficulty  are  therefore  in  the  nature  of  a  fraud."  Others 
said:  "We  do  not  know  what  'hesitation  of  speech  is, 
but  we  are  waiting  for  the  light." 

While  endeavoring  from  this  confusion  of  authority 
to  extract  some  general  law,  a  clergyman  friend  lost  his 
voice  'because  of  a  serious  throat-affection,  and  found  it 
through  Mme.  Setter's  instruction;  not  in  the  harsh,  hard 
tones  that  were  symptomatic  of  all  that  was  incorrect,  but 
in  tones  beautiful  and  melodious,  as  a  voice  must  be, 
formed  upon  nature's  plan.  As  he  described  in  detail 
the  process  of  instruction  that  he  'had  received,  there 
came  to  my  mind  the  dawning  of  a  great  light,  which  has 
steadily  increased.  It  occurred  to  me  to  make  a  compar- 
ison between  the  symptoms  in  his  case  and  those  of  some 
upon  whom  I  was  experimenting  for  speech-trouble. 
They  seemed  alike  in  so  many  respects  that  a  trial  of  the 
process,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  reproduce  it,  was  made 
upon  my  pupils  with  entire  success.  What  was 
done  was  to  remove  all  undue  contraction  from 
the  throat  and  to  strengthen  the  breathing-muscles.  A 
close  comparison  of  every  new  case  with  every  other 
showed  the  inevitable  symptom  of  throat-contraction.  It 
is  surprising  how  long  it  may  be,  after  a  principle  is  ac- 
cepted as  truth,  before  it  is  clear  in  all  its  relations.  But 


1 6  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

what  was  at  first  vague  and  experimental,  by  slow  degrees 
became  clear  and  positive. 

Nervousness  always  exists  in  this  form  of  physical  de- 
rangement. The  usual  explanation  was,  "I  hesitate  be- 
cause I  am  so  nervous."  But  when  relief  came  the  pa- 
tient would  say,  "I  am  no  more  nervous  now  than  other 
persons."  The  question  was,  Do  nervousness  and  throat- 
contraction  exist  as  independent  symptoms,  or  does  one 
cause  the  other, — and  which  is  the  cause?  The  answer 
came  through  a  child  six  years  old,  who  had  St.  Vitus's 
dance.  The  opinion  of  the  highest  authority  was  that 
the  speech-irregularity  'was  caused  by  chronic  chorea; 
therefore  she  could  never  talk.  By  pursuing  the  usual 
plan  of  removing  the  throat-contraction,  in  less  than 
three  months  she  spoke  perfectly,  and  every  trace  of  the 
chorea  'had  disappeared.  That  was  several  years  ago,, 
and  there  'has  been  no  return  of  the  difficulty.  The  mother 
was  wise.  Until  the  child  was  able  to  play  with  other 
children  without  excitement,  she  was  kept  by  herself, 
and  it  was  a  year  at  least  after  iher  speech  was  perfect  be- 
fore she  was  allowed  to  enter  school.  This  case  was 
sufficiently  marked  to  settle  the  question  o/f  cause  and  effect 
in  regard  to  nervousness,  and  all  subsequent  experience 
has  strengthened  the  position.  The  whole  difficulty  was 
that  the  grasp  of  the  breath,  which  should  have  been  in 
the  breathing-muscles,  was  placed  upon  the  muscles  of 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  i  j 

the  throat  where  the  breath  must  pass,  and  with  force 
sufficient  to  throw  the  whole  system  into  disorder. 

As  the  years  went  on,  a  large  number  of  cases  in  every 
varying  degree  of  severity  received  the  treatment,  whicn 
experience  was  constantly  rendering  more  certain.  Some 
of  the  cases  were  even  more  severe  than  that  of  the  little 
girl  previously  mentioned.  They  were  of  long  standing, 
and  in  some  cases  the  subjects  of  them  could  not  appear 
before  the  world;  but  whenever  the  instructions  were 
followed,  the  case  yielded  to  the  treatment,  and  there  was 
no  reason  to  change  the  opinion  that  throat-contraction 
was  the  foundation  of  the  difficulty,  and  its  removal  the 
one  definite  aim. 

But  why  the  throat-contraction?  Not  infrequently 
was  reported  inability  properly  to  control  the  pen  while 
writing.  Often  persons  who  were  physically  weak  and 
who  could  walk  but  short  distances  would,  as  the  effort 
was  taken  from  the  speech,  become  strong  and  able  to 
walk  for  miles  without  fatigue.  This  led  to  a  general 
study  of  voices,  and  the  amount  of  throat-contraction  in 
those  of  young  children — even  in  infants — was  a  revela- 
tion. 

A  young  lady  eighteen  years  old  had  been  an  invalid 
all  her  life.  At  birth  she  was  with  difficulty  made  to 
breathe.  Her  limbs  were  weak,  and  she  walked  and  used 


18  -      SPEECH-HESITATION. 

her  hands  very  little.  She  was  constantly  under  medical 
treatment,  from  which  she  received  no  permanent  benefit. 
Her  voice  was  very  weak,  and  she  seldom  spoke  except  in 
answer  to  a  question.  Though  her  speech  was  free  from 
impediment,  with  every  attempt  to  speak  her  head  swayed 
from  side  to  side  and  her  hands  were  twisted  with  great 
energy.  The  speaking- force  was  focused  in  the  muscles 
of  the  neck  and  the  'hands,  and  it  was  those  muscles  that 
were  first  in  action  when  she  began  to  speak.  All  that 
she  needed  was  a  voice  properly  placed,  and  when  that 
was  gained  she  walked  miles  without  fatigue.  Whereas 
s'he  had  been  unable  to  li'ft  a  cup  filled  with  any  liquid, 
s'he  could  without  effort  raise  a  good-sized  pitcher  and 
pour  the  water  from  it;  and  she  could  read  aloud  for 
hours  and  talk  with  the  utmost  freedom. 

A  boy  nine  years  old  dragged  his  right  foot,  and  the 
right  hand  and  arm  were  useless.  His  voice  was  an 
aspirate,  and  his  face  was  a  mass  of  contractions.  His 
speech  was  an  illustration  of  extreme  hesitation.  At 
birth  he  did  not  breathe  perceptibly  for  an  hour.  For 
some  days  he  made  no  sound,  and  it  was  a  month  before 
he  made  what  could  be  called  a  cry.  He,  too,  needed  a 
voice,  and  when  it  came,  strength  came  to  the  leg  and 
the  arm,  and  the  contraction  left  the  face  and  centred  in 
the  'breathing-muscles. 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  19 

A  person  who  had  become  interested  in  these  investiga- 
tions urged  visiting  a  hospital  for  children,  where  were 
some  cases  answering  this  description.  The  symptoms 
were  the  same,  in  a  greatly  exaggerated  form.  One  boy 
in  particular  was  an  embodied,  extreme  example  of  all 
that  had  been  seen  in  a  large  number  of  cases.  Thes? 
symptoms  had  been  found  distributed  among  many  per- 
sons. For  instance,  one  was  weak  in  the  fingers ;  another 
in  the  legs.  In  one  the  contraction  was  in  the  wrists; 
another,  perhaps,  in  the  jaw  or  the  tongue.  One  would 
be  troubled  with  bronchitis ;  another  with  throat-disease. 
The  tongue  might  be  so  large  as  to  interfere  with  swal- 
lowing. Sometimes  the  eye  could  not  be  fixed  upon  any 
object,  and  often  there  were  growths  in  the  nasal  pas- 
sage. 

With  the  exception  of  the  last,  all  these  symptoms  were 
» 
concentrated  in  this  one  boy,  and  every  one  was  strongly 

marked.  All  that  great  strength  which  should  have  been 
gathered  in  the  breathing-muscles  centred  in  the  throat, 
tongue,  lower  jaw  and  wrists.  The  constant  movement 
and  abnormal  energy  centred  in  the  jaw  and  the  tongue 
caused  a  profuse  flow  of  saliva.  The  size  of  the  tongue 
was  increased  by  the  unusual  exercise;  the  effort  in  the 
throat  caused  bronchitis.  The  preponderance  of  mus- 
cular energy  went  to  the  wrists  and  lower  jaw  and  tongue, 


20  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

and  the  fingers  and  legs  and  feet  were  quite  helpless. 
The  wrists  were  very  strong  and  abnormally  developed. 
The  eyes  were  never  fixed  upon  any  object,  the  shoulders 
were  lifted,  and  the  head  was  never  erect.  The  responsive 
instinct  was  there,  in  full  force,  and  when  one  spoke  to 
the  child  all  these  false  centres  were  roused  to  full  activ- 
ity. 

Naturally,  as  there  was  no  avenue  through  which  the 
mind  could  operate,  all  the  usual  channels  being  barred 
and  shut  off,  the  mind  was  supposed  to  be  wanting.  He 
was  laid  upon  a  rug  on  the  floor,  and  told  to  kick.  In- 
stantly the  limp  feet  flew,  propelled  from  the  hips.  Three 
things  were  noted :  First,  he  knew  what  the  word  "kick" 
meant;  second,  he  was  not  so  much  paralyzed  but  that 
he  could  kick ;  third,  'he  was  pleased  and  delighted  to  fol- 
low any  suggestion  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  He  had 
repeatedly  heard  and  understood  that  his  case  was  hope- 
less, and  he  eagerly  caught  upon  even  a  ray  of  hope. 

With  permission  from  the  medical  committee  experi- 
ments were  made  upon  him,  and  the  boy's  conscientious 
spirit  was  a  great  assistance.  In  six  weeks  the  symptoms 
all  were  changed  for  the  "better.  In  about  a  year  he  used 
his  feet,  legs  and  hands  very  well.  His  head  was  erect, 
and  the  condition  of  his  eyes  normal.  The  contraction 
about  the  throat,  tongue  and  jaw  was  so  reduced  that  he 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  2 1 

was  able  to  speak  quite  a  list  of  words,  and  connect  some 
of  them.  Several  others  at  the  hospital  also  received  the 
benefit  of  the  training.  Some  were  permanently  benefited. 
The  teacher  took  what  was  thought  would  be  a  vaca- 
tion, but  saw  no  time  to  return,  and  the  boy  from  whom 
so  much  was  learned,  and  to  whom  we  were  so  much  in- 
debted, was  allowed  to  relapse.  At  birth  he  did  not 
breathe  perceptibly  for  two  hours,  and  he  never  made  a 
vocal  sound  till  taught  by  us.  At  first  his  efforts  were  a 
kind  of  groan,  directed  into  the  lower  jaw;  but  he  under- 
stood the  aim,  and  kept  at  work,  and  constantly  gained. 
If  I  had  known  then,  as  I  do  now,  that  the  natural 
strength  must  exceed  the  unnatural,  before  one  is  safe  in 
being  left  to  himself,  probably  some  way  would  have  been 
found  to  complete  the  work.  To  train  a  voice  that  already 
exists  is  an  easier  task  than  to  create  one.  The  wonderful 
feature  in  this  case  was  that  the  boy  so  well  understood 
and  put  into  practice  the  lessons  taught  him. 


CHAPTER   II. 


Starting  with  the  unquestionable  truth  that  at  any 
moment  the  existing  quantity  of  liberated  nerve- 
force,  which  in  an  inscrutable  way  produces  in  us  the 
state  we  call  "feeling,"  must  generate  an  equivalent 
manifestation  of  force  somewhere,  it  clearly  follows 
that  if,  of  the  several  channels  it  may  take,  one  is 
wholly  or  partly^  closed,  more  must  be  taken  by  the 
others;  or  that  if  two  are  closed,  the  discharge  along 
one  must  be  more  intense;  and  that,  conversely, 
should  anything  determine  an  unusual  efflux  in  one  di- 
rection, there  will  be  a  diminished  efflux  in  other  di- 
rections.— Herbert  Spencer. 

In  the  universe  taken  as  a  whole,  evolution  of  one 
part  must  be  at  the  expense  of  some  other  part. — 
Le  Conte. 

BREATH,  held  with  firmness  by  the  breathing-mus- 
cles and  released  with  energy,  is  the  essential  ele- 
ment of  all  vocal  sound.  Voice,  which,  developed,  be- 
comes speech,  begins  with  the  life.  In  the  first  cry  of 
life  there  are  three  conditions :  Inspiration,  muscular 
grasp,  release ;  first,  the  inspiration,  which  fills  the  lungs ; 
second,  the  grasp  of  that  inspiration  by  every  muscle 
used  in  breathing,  or  the  concentration  of  energy,  by 
which  the  breath  is  firmly  held  and  controlled ;  third,  the 
release,  by  which  the  breath  is  driven  against  the  vocal 
cords,  producing  the  cry,  which  varies  in  different  chil- 
dren, from  a  clear,  full,  strong,  flexible  and  controlled 
tone,  which  by  its  quality  indicates  that  every  muscle 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  2$ 

uses  to  its  full  capacity  all  the  energy  that  nature  pro- 
vides for  the  purpose,  to  the  faintest  aspirate,  which  also 
indicates  by  the  varying  degrees  of  strength  the  amount 
of  power  unused  by  the  breathing-muscles. 

But  the  unused  power  is  not  lost.  If  turned  from  its 
legitimate  use  in  the  breathing-muscles,  it  will  certainly 
be  at  work  in  another  place.  The  repetition  of  the  cry 
by  the  child  has  been  called  an  "acquired  reflex."  If  the 
cry  is  according  to  nature,  every  repetition  strengthens 
the  entire  system,  working  from  the  centre  to  the  per- 
iphery. But  if  the  muscular  grasp,  which  is  the  centre, 
is  weak,  not  only  does  the  system  suffer  from  the  loss  of 
the  legitimate  exercise  but  the  surplus  energy,  acting  in  the 
wrong  place,  is  a  cause  of  derangement  and  disease.  The 
grasp  of  the  breath,  in  order  to  produce  vocal  sound, 
•is  in  accord  with  nature's  law,  and  if  the  conditions 
are  perfect,  is,  in  every  instance  it  is  called  into  exercise, 
as  unstudied  and  unpremeditated  as  in  the  first  cry  of  the 
child. 

The  child  cries  because  he  must.  It  is  nature's  pro- 
vision for  sending  life  and  strength  into  every  fibre  of 
his  being,  and  every  cry  is  laying  a  foundation  for  future 
use  in  speech  and  in  song.  As  intelligence  grows,  the  tone 
is  varied  to  express  different  emotions,  followed  by  ges- 
ticulations of  the  feet,  hands  and  head,  and  these  by  a 


24  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

great  deal  of  meaningless  movement  of  lips  and  tongue. 

The  first  definite  voice  or  vowel  sound  is  short  u  or 
ugh.  It  is  the  natural  response  of  the  lower  animal, 
the  savage  and  the  little  child,  and  is  the  radical  of  every 
vowel,  When  properly  made.  The  child  learns  articula- 
tions, which  are  the  refinement  of  gesture,  by  imitation, 
and  the  greater  his  power  of  imitation,  the  earlier  he 
learns  to  talk. 

The  muscles  that  move  the  tongue  and  the  jaw  in  mas- 
tication are  the  same  as  are  used  in  forming  articulations 
or  consonants.  The  same  stream  of  breath  that  forms 
the  vowel  gives  expression  to  the  articulations,  which  may 
be  called  the  finish  to  the  vowel-sound. 

Supposing  the  concentration  of  energy  in  the  breathing- 
muscles  to  have  been  complete  from  the  first  cry  till  the 
child  begins  to  talk,  no  abnormal  energy  can  be  placed 
upon  the  articulation.  Therefore,  it  offers  no  obstruction 
to  the  passage  of  the  breath,  because  vowel  and  articulation 
blend  in  a  perfect  whole,  and  the  harmony  is  complete. 
In  speech,  so  conditioned,  the  tones  may  be  low,  but 
never  weak;  reposeful,  but  always  energetic;  and  as  life 
goes  on,  by  constant  use  they  can  easily  be  adapted  to 
any  requirement  of  public  and  private  use.  It  is  only  from 
the  centre  that  the  voice  can  expand  and  develop  to  a 
variety  of  pitch  and  increase  of  compass.  The  founda- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  2$ 

tion  for  the  voice,  in  all  pulpit  and  platform  oratory,  dra- 
matic speaking  and  singing,  is  but  a  broadening  from  the 
current  melody  of  the  speaking-voice,  which  depends  in 
every  case  upon  the  perfect  grasp  at  the  centre.  The 
child  who  has  held  the  perfect  control  of  his  voice  from 
the  beginning  until  he  is  old  enough  to  talk,  not  only  has 
established  a  vital  power  in  every  nerve-centre,  muscle 
and  fibre  of  his  system,  but  is  so  confirmed  in  that  con- 
trol that  he  is  not  likely  to  be  affected  by  any  subse- 
quent influence. 

The  non-vocalized  breath  is  inspiration  and  expiration. 
With  this,  life  may  go  on  and  the  breathing  be  perfect; 
but  there  can  be  no  vocal  sound  without  the  grasp  or  stop 
of  the  breath.  We  give  a  great  deal  of  time  to  the  study 
of  how  best  to  breathe.  Perhaps  it  would  be  better,  did 
we  learn  how  to  stop  breathing  in  the  best  manner.  The 
grasp  of  the  breath  forms  the  centre  of  the  respiratory 
system.  This  is  inevitable,  and  any  degree  of  weakness 
at  the  true  centre  indicates  a  corresponding  abnormal 
strength,  first  evident  in  the  throat-muscles.  The  symp- 
toms are  weak,  high-pitched,  shrill,  nasal,  or  harsh  voices, 
inability  to  read  for  even  a  few  minutes  without  pain  in 
the  throat,  hoarseness,  loss  of  voice  and  tendency  to 
throat-disease.  Such  persons  may  suffer  from  nervous- 
ness, general  weakness,  or  a  kind  of  invalidism  that  seems 


->6  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

to  have  no  explainable  cause.  The  constant  use  of  the 
throat-muscles  gives  a  tendency  to  lift  from  the  true  cen- 
tre and  to  focus  at  the  throat.  If  the  contraction  centres 
at  the  vocal  cords  in  sufficient  force  seriously  to  impede  or 
stop  the  breath,  speech-hesitation  in  its  uncomplicated 
form  will  be  the  result. 

Although,  according  to  my  observation,  the  contraction 
begins  at  the  throat-muscles,  it  may  focus  in  greater 
strength  at  other  points,  affecting  the  speech  only  indi- 
rectly. If  the  force  of  the  contraction  is  below  the  vocal 
cords,  the  throat  may  not  be  seriously  affected,  but  the 
entire  system  is  lia'ble  to  feel  the  strain.  If  the  speaker  is 
a  clergyman,  he  may  be  obliged  to  resign  his  charge.  A 
rest  will  bring  relief,  but  a  return  to  public  speaking,  un- 
less the  manner  of  using  the  voice  is  changed,  will  cause  a 
return  of  the  symptoms. 

.A  cripple  at  a  hospital  spoke  with  the  quality  of  voice 
that  comes  from  the  use  of  those  muscles.  He  had  evi- 
dently used  them  from  the  beginning  with  every  attempt 
to  speak.  Some  public  speakers  are  saved  from  a  similar 
condition  because  that  voice  is  used  only  in  addressing 
an  audience.  The  focusing  of  the  contraction  in  the 
muscles  above  the  vocal  cords  is  the  cause  of  what  is 
known  as  clergyman's  and  teacher's  sore  throat.  When 
called  upon  to  use  more  power  than  is  required  in  the  or- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  27 

dinary  conversational  tone,  the  throat-contraction  is  in- 
creased, and  the  consequence  is  throat-disease.  Upon 
the  same  principle  children,  when  at  play,  scream  into 
their  throats  with  most  destructive  energy,  which 
accounts  for  the  excision  of  so  many  tonsils.  The  use  of 
the  voice  through  the  breathing-muscles  is  invigorating 
and  strengthening,  but  through  the  throat-muscles  it  is 
weakening  and  dispiriting.  The  teacher  raises  his  voice 
in  order  to  be  heard  by  a  roomful  of  pupils,  and  the 
greater  the  interest  in  his  work,  the  greater  the  strain. 
Some  clergymen  perform  the  entire  service  in  an  easy, 
conversational  style,  clear  and  restful  to  the  hearer,  which 
leaves  the  speaker  physically  stronger  than  before.  Oth- 
ers make  the  prayer,  read  the  Scriptures  and  the  hymn 
and  give  the  text  well,  but  when  they  begin  to  warm  to 
their  subject,  the  lift  begins  toward  the  throat,  increasing 
in  intensity  to  the  end. 

One  who  is  accustomed  to  the  study  of  the  voice  from 
this  point  of  view  can  easily  detect,  from  its  quality, 
when  the  hold  on  the  breathing-muscles  begins  to  weaken, 
and  can  note  the  exact  location  of  its  upward  tendency, 
till  it  fastens  itself  upon  some  point  about  the  throat. 
An  education  of  this  kind  is  probably  of  more  value  than 
the  use  of  a  laryngoscope.  If  the  contraction  focuses  in 
the  muscles  at  the  sides  of  the  neck,  the  head  may  in  the 


2g  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

act  of  speaking  bend  from  side  to  side.  In  a  few  such 
cases,  when  also  the  contraction  is  great  in  the  lower  jaw, 
it  has  'been  attended  with  loss  of  hearing,  which  the  pupil 
has  reported  to  me  as  relieved  when  the  contraction  is 
removed.  If  the  contraction  focuses  in  the  muscles  at 
the  back  of  the  neck,  it  is  marked  in  slight  cases  by  a 
pain  in  those  muscles,  when  tired  or  excited.  In  more  se- 
vere cases  the  head  may  shake,  as  in  palsy.  In  all  these 
cases,  although  the  contraction  may  remain  through  life 
about  the  same,  the  tendency,  as  a  rule,  is  to  communi- 
cate from  one  nerve-centre  to  another, — to  the  shoulders, 
hands  and  feet,  till  the  entire  system  is  under  its  influence. 
The  distance  is  wide  between  a  slight  effort  made  upon 
the  throat-muscles  and  the  cripple  at  the  hospital,  but  the 
line  of  retrogression  is  complete. 

Many  persons,  in  performing  any  work  with  the  hands, 
will  repeat  their  motion  with  the  lips  and  the  facial  mus- 
cles. We  all  have  met  persons  walking  on  the  street  or 
on  the  deck  of  a  steamer,  with  every  muscle  of  the  face  in 
a  state  of  contraction.  How  many  can  think  intently 
while  lying  down,  and  leave  the  head  to  drop  a  dead 
weight  upon  the  pillow  ?  The  twisting  of  the  fingers  by 
children^and  by  grown  persons  as  well,  when  they  think 
they  are  sitting  quite  still,  and  the  fidgeting  with  the 
leaves  of  a  book  while  reading,  are  evidences  of  an  activ- 
ity at  the  periphery  that  should  be  at  the  centre. 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  29 

Many  persons,  in  walking,  hold  the  hands,  wrists  and 
elbows  in  a  state  of  tension,  instead  of  allowing  the  arms 
to  swing  from  the  shoulder.  It  is  an  indication  that  the 
arms  are  controlled  by  an  over-tension  of  the  muscles 
about  the  throat  and  the  neck.  All  cases  of  writer's 
cramp  that  I  have  known  arose  from  this  cause.  Many 
persons  are  conscious  of  a  tightening  of  the  throat-mus- 
cles, which  become  a  pain,  when  playing  a  game,  reading 
an  exciting  book,  or  doing  anything  that  awakens  in- 
terest. Sometimes,  as  in  shooting  at  a  mark,  or  in  doing 
anything  that  requires  close  attention,  the  whole  system 
is  tense  and  rigid.  A  little  girl  who  had  St.  Vitus's  dance 
as  a  consequence  of  the  contraction  held  broken  sticks 
in  her  hands,  shaking  them  continually.  The  act  seemed 
to  be  an  outlet  for  the  abnormal  energy.  As  she  grew 
strong  at  the  centre,  that  exercise  was  gradually  dropped. 
Some  children  twist  the  hair  or  the  ears,  and  others  keep 
always  a  string,  piece  of  paper,  or  something,  to  work 
upon  with  the  fingers. 

This  misplaced  energy  in  jaw  and  in  throat  is  the  con- 
striction that  all  trainers  of  the  voice  are  obliged  to  meet. 
The  hold  or  grasp  of  the  breath  is  what  distinguishes 
the  vocalized  from  the  non-vocalized  breath.  It  is  so  es- 
sential that  it  may  almost  be  called  the  speech.  We  begin 
to  speak  wherever  it  is  located.  It  is  a  great  energy, — 


30  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

how  great,  probably  no  one  knows  with  exactness,  but  it 
has  been  estimated  to  be  equal  to  a  thousand  pounds.  We 
are  wholly  unconscious  of  the  force  if  it  is  in  the  right 
place.  If  we  begin  to  speak  at  any  point  above  the  dia- 
phragm, the  speech  suffers  according  to  the  location,  the 
amount  of  misplaced  energy  and  the  temperament  of  the 
speaker.  If  all  the  energy  is  centred  at  any  such  point, 
there  can  be  no  speech,  because  it  is  only  force  in  the 
breathing-muscles  that  can  drive  the  breath  against  the 
vocal  cords;  and  as  the  breath,  whether  vocalized  or 
not,  must  pass  through  the  glottis,  it  is  plain  that  if  the 
muscles  at  the  glottis  tie  up  the  passage,  the  speech  is 
hindered  in  the  degree  of  the  force  of  the  contraction. 

This  iis  the  distinguishing  symptom  in  speech-hesitation. 
It  is  one  cause  of  spasm  of  the  glottis.  K  the  con- 
traction -stops  at  the  glottis,  only  the  vowels  are  hindered ; 
but  if  it  extends,  as  it  usually  does,  to  the  lips  and  the 
tongue,  the  consonants  also  are  affected.  Consonants 
have  been  called  breath-obstructions;  but  they  are  as 
dependent  as  are  the  vowels  upon  the  free  passage  of  the 
breath,  and  they  never  obstruct,  except  when  contraction 
of  lips  and  tongue  enter  into  their  formation. 

Four  persons  were  suffering  with  contraction  in  dif- 
ferent forms.  Two  were  school-teachers,  one  of  whom 
was  an  invalid.  Her  voice  was  weak  and  her  throat  dis- 


SPEECH-HESITATION.  31 

eased,  and  she  was  trying  change  of  climate  and  rest  in 
hope  of  finding  relief.  The  other  was  obliged  to  give  up 
teaching  on  account  of  hoarseness.  Besides  the  other 
remedies,  she  practiced  gymnastic  exercises,  and  con- 
sequently lost  'her  voice  altogether,  'because  gymnastics 
increased  the  peripheral  strength.  When  the  physical 
exercises  were  given  up,  the  hoarse  voice  returned.  She 
said  that  with  any  slight  excitement,  as  interesting  read- 
ing or  the  playing  of  games,  the  muscles  of  the  throat 
closed  tightly. 

The  third  case  had  been  an  invalid  from  childhood, 
with  the  contraction  focused  in  the  muscles  in  the  side 
of  the  neck  and  the  hands.  There  was  no  hesitation  in 
speaking  any  word,  but  the  head  bent  from  side  to  side, 
and  the  contraction  had  reached  the  hands.  At  birth  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  she  was  made  to  breathe. 

The  fourth  was  a  case  of  speech-hesitancy,  the  con- 
traction being  in  the  vocal  cords.  It  was  the  least  com- 
plicated of  all,  because  the  contraction  had  not  reached 
far  beyond  the  focusing  point.  In  each  case  the  voice 
was  weak  and  pitched  on  a  high  key. 

It  is  only  a  voice  that  is  free  from  that  contraction — 
and  the  percentage  of  such  voices  is  small — that  can  be 
readily  adapted  to  the  varied  requirements  of  life,  from 
the  low,  quiet  tone  necessary  in  the  sick-room,  to  the 


32  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

strong,  clear  tone  that  will  fill  every  part  of  a  large 
audience  room.  The  voice  can  not  expand  from  the  throat. 
A  large  class  of  persons,  who  never  fail  to  go  on,  are  so 
nicely  balanced  as  to  be  very  nervous  about  speaking  in 
unusual  places,  but  never  having  been  quite  stopped,  they 
do  not  know  the  cause.  Some  hesitate  constantly,  but 
manage  to  push  along,  and  habit  renders  them  uncon- 
scious of  any  serious  difficulty;  and  this  unconsciousness 
may  be  their  salvation.  Others  hesitate  occasionally,  but, 
as  this  hesitation  is  seldom,  it  does  not  trouble  them.  All 
these  carry  a  weight,  more  or  less  heavy,  but  they  do 
not  know  what  the  burden  is  or  'how  they  came  by  it. 

Quite  a  percentage  of  persons  who  hesitate  habitually 
get  on  very  well  for  a  time;  perhaps  will  talk  for  days 
without  revealing  any  difficulty,  especially  if  difficult  per- 
sons and  places  are  avoided.  In  some  such  cases,  even 
the  neighbors  whom  they  meet  continually  detect  no  weak- 
ness. It  may  be  that  when  the  conversation  becomes  ex- 
citing they  are  silent  or  withdraw,  and  this  may  give 
them  the  reputation  of  being  odd  or  queer.  I  am  told 
that  some  such  persons,  being  always  able  to  talk,  when 
addressed  on  the  -subject  of  speech-difficulty  will  league 
with  dealers  in  tricks  as  reference,  for  the  revenue  that 
may  come  to  them.  But  the  mass  of  cases  are  much  more 
intricate.  The  tendency  of  the  contraction  is  to  communi- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  33 

cate  from  point  to  point,  until  the  whole  system  is  under 
its  influence ;  and  the  severity  of  the  case  depends  entirely 
upon  how  far  the  contraction  reaches  and  the  amount  of 
rigidity  it  has  attained. 

From  the  vocal  cords  it  reaches  out  to  the  jaw,  tongue, 
lips  and  facial  muscles,  making  of  each  a  new  centre  as 
it  proceeds.  When  the  muscles  of  the  jaw  become  rigid, 
it  may  cause  a  profuse  flow  of  saliva,  and  the  teeth  will 
strike  together  with  great  force.  If  in  the  tongue,  it 
cleaves  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  If  in  the  lips,  they 
close  together  immovably.  When  the  contraction  extends 
through  the  muscles  at  the  neck  and  the  jaw,  there  may 
be  times  when  the  rigidity  is  at  the  extreme,  when  the 
person  is  unable  to  hear,  and  if  it  reaches  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  face,  the  eyes  may  roll  about,  giving  the  ap- 
pearance of  convulsions ;  or  they  may  move  from  side  to 
side,  never  being  fixed  upon  any  object.  The  contraction 
may  stop  here,  but  often  it  continues  to  the  shoulders, 
hands  and  feet. 

These  extreme  cases  feel  themselves  under  the  power 
of  a  monster  clutching  and  holding  them  with  an  irre- 
sistible power.  The  extreme  examples  of  these  conditions 
are  found  in  hospitals  in  a  hopelessly  chronic  or  gener- 
ally paralyzed  state.  In  a  healthy  muscle,  the  relaxation 
equals  the  contraction.  If  a  muscle  continues  contracted 


34  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

too  long,  the  result  will  be  a  partial  paralysis.  This  fre- 
quently occurs  in  the  lips,  tongue,  jaw  or  facial  muscles, 
and  as  the  vocal  organs  can  not  be  controlled,  to  one  whose 
attention  has  not  been  turned  to  this  aspect  of  the  subject 
they  may  suggest  brain  lesion. 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe,  three  generations 
of  noticeable  throat-contractions  bring  about  an  average 
case  of  hesitation.  Usually  it  is  quite  evident  in  the 
grandmother,  more  so  in  the  mother  or  father,  or  both, 
one  or  both  of  whom,  perhaps,  'hesitates  a  little  sometimes, 
but  not  enough  to  cause  inconvenience.  The  next  genera- 
tion does  not  get  on  as  well.  Occasionally  the  degrees 
of  difficulty  are  found  in  one  family.  In  one  case,  the 
mother  spoke  with  a  great  deal  of  effort  in  the  throat, 
the  boy  seven  years  old  hesitated  inveterately ;  the  child 
four  years  old  could  neither  walk  nor  hold  up  her  head: 
so  great  was  the  misplaced  energy. 

The  mental  phase  is  conspicuous  in  those  cases  in 
which  speech-hesitation  is  a  prominent  symptom.  It  is 
a  serious  complication,  but  stands  in  relation  to  the  physi- 
cal as  effect  and  not  as  cause.  One  is  never  afraid  to  do 
what  he  knows  that  he  can  do.  It  is  true  that  by  the  con- 
stant play  and  interplay  of  the  one  with  the  other,  the 
mental  may  in  many  cases  outgrow  the  physical,  but  the 
origin,  the  root  of  the  difficulty,  lies  in  the  latter. 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  35 

When  a  sensitive  child  first  learns  that  his  speech  is 
peculiar,  he  instinctively  avoids  meeting  persons  outside 
the  circle  of  his  immediate  friends.  Often  a  child  five 
years  old  resolves  not  to  speak  to  anyone  except  his  par- 
ents and  nurse,  and  not  unusually  at  that  early  age  deter- 
mines not  to  speak  at  all  and  carries  out  his  resolution* 
He  does  well,  for  he  avoids  the  struggle  and  consequent 
nervous  strain,  and  is  in  better  condition  to  receive  in- 
struction. But  usually  the  child  tries  to  talk,  and  every 
effort  fixes  and  intensifies  the  contraction.  His  playmates 
laugh  at  and  imitate  him,  his  teacher  is  tried,  his  parents 
pity  or  blame  him,  and  he  dreads  them  all.  Perhaps  he 
has  never  seen  nor  head  of  anyone  in  like  condition,  and 
he  feels  conspicuous  before  the  world  with  a  mark  worse 
than  that  of  Cain  upon  him.  In  his  class  he  stands  with 
beating  heart,  trembling  in  every  limb,  as  he  sees  his  turn 
coming,  and  when  it  comes,  shakes  his  head  to  indicate 
that  he  does  not  know,  when  he  does ;  loses  his  mark  and 
stands  at  the  foot,  when  he  might  be  at  the  head.  He 
goes  hungry,  because  he  can  not  ask  for  food,  and  eats 
what  he  does  not  want,  because  he  must  say  the  easy  word. 
Very  early,  life  is  turned  into  'bitterness  because  the  fact 
that  he  wants  to  say  a  word  is  the  great  reason  that  he 
can  not  say  it. 

As  he  grows  older,  he  stays  away  from  merrymakings 


36  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

and  good  times,  because  he  seems  to  see  every  eye  directed 
toward  him  and  knows  that  any  attempt  to  speak  will 
make  him  conspicuous.  He  is  always  looking  this  way 
and  that,  to  see  if  any  person  is  approaching  who  will 
speak  to  him,  and  turning  corners  and  dodging  down 
alleys  to  avoid  what  may  be  an  acquaintance  in  the  dis- 
tance. He  loses  trains,  because  he  can  not  ask  for  his 
ticket  or  tell  where  his  baggage  is  to  go.  Nothing  is  so 
obedient  as  a  muscle  trained ;  and  on  his  way  to  the  sta- 
tion, with  mind  preoccupied,  the  first  hint  that  he  is  to 
purchase  a  ticket  may  be  the  tightening  contraction.  He 
dreams  for  months  over  an  expected  interview  that  may 
never  come,  especially  if  he  is  to  introduce  himself,  as 
his  own  name  stands  first  on  the  list  of  impossibilities. 
He  makes  a  plan  of  what  the  conversation  will  be,  and 
wonders  if  he  will  be  able  to  speak  certain  words,  and 
when  the  time  comes  he  has  worked  himself  into  such  a 
mental  condition  that  probably  he  can  not  speak  at  all. 

It  is  well  if  he  must  find  some  occupation,  for  it  will 
perforce  divert  his  mind  from  himself.  But  it  is  hard  for 
a  man  to  keep  books  all  his  life,  when  his  tastes  and  con- 
scious ability  would  open  to  him  the  widest  field.  Said 
one:  "I  hesitate  badly  and  am  growing  worse.  I  have 
limited  means,  have  lost  my  position,  and  life  is  a  failure, 
'because  of  my  defect."  Said  another:  "I  work  for  daily 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  37 

wages,  when  I  might  'be  in  good  business.  I  am  an  out- 
cast from  society,  treated  with  contempt,  and  scorned  by 
my  inferiors,  when  I  know  that  I  might  have  a  place 
among  the  best.  Is  He  a  just  God,  who  can  send  such 
an  affliction  upon  one  who  has  done  nothing  to  merit  it  ? 
Sometimes  I  can  talk  with  those  who  can  understand  me 
very  well  for  a  time,  but  I  can  not  read  aloud,  even  when 
alone.  If  I  s'hould  try  a  course  of  treatment  and  it  should 
fail,  I  do  not  know  what  the  result  would  be." 

Sometimes  one  who  might  shine  in  society  does  menial 
work,  because  all  other  avenues  are  closed  to  him.  Eie 
associate.-*  with  low  companions  because  they  notice  less 
his  infirmity.  Neither  the  social  nor  the  business  wo-ul 
opens  its  doors  very  wide  to  one  who  seems  to  go  into 
convulsions  *,vi'h  every  word  he  attempts  to  speak.  "If  i 
could  only  talk !"  is  the  wail  that  goes  up  from  his  inmost 
soul,  through  every  waking  moment.  It  is  the  las,, 
thought  at  night,  as  he  goes  to  sleep,  the  first  as  he  awakes 
in  the  morning,  and  he  dreams  of  it  all  through  the  night. 
Sometimes  the  contraction  is  evident  even  when  not 
speaking,  and  he  dreads  to  appear  on  the  street  in  the 
daytime,  and  yields  to  the  temptation  to  use  a  stimulant, 
depending  upon  its  bracing  effect  to  carry  him  through 
an  ordeal.  In  this  way,  not  unusually,  a  drinking  habit 
is  formed,  but  in  the  reaction  stimulants  leave  the  subject 


38  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

worse  than  before.  If  he  tries  to  find  diversion  in  enter- 
tainments, not  infrequently  he  is  forced  to  witness  a  pain- 
ful caricature  of  himself.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our 
higher  civilization  and  wider  knowledge  will  oblige  us 
to  frown  upon  such  characterization.  Nothing  but  inex- 
cusable ignorance  of  the  nature  of  this  painful  malady  can 
induce  any  performer  so  to  outrage  the  sensibilities  of 
so  large  a  portion  of  any  community.  It  is  not  to  the  cred- 
it of  any  publication,  especially  if  for  the  young,  to  put 
upon  its  pages  anecdotes  or  stories  representing  speech- 
hesitancy,  for  there  is  no  one  who  has  the  difficulty  who 
would  not  be  pained  by  them  deeply. 

Another  type  of  the  mental  phase  is  that  of  one  who 
uses  such  extreme  care  that  he  seldom  hesitates.  By  con- 
stant practice  he  becomes  an  adept  in  the  use  of  synonyms. 
If  one  word  will  not  do,  another  may.  I  knew  of  one 
person  who  never  began  a  sentence  with  the  first  word 
that  presented  itself,  and  he  never  hesitated,  except  when 
obliged  to  be  literal.  I  have  talked  for  hours  with  others 
who,  to  an  unpracticed  ear,  would  give  no  sign  of  hesitan- 
cy, because  a  collection  of  words  was  laid  away  that  could 
never  be  used  under  any  circumstances.  Another  list 
might  be  used  if  the  conditions  were  favorable,  and  so 
the  entire  vocabulary  was  classified.  Every  word  was 
spoken  with  an  extreme  care  conspicuous  in  every  move- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  39 

ment,  until  the  whole  atmosphere  was  one  of  painful  re- 
straint. 

It  is  true  that  a  few  who  would  gladly  drop  the  burden 
are  so  happily  constituted  that  they  do  not  allow  it  to 
hinder  their  success  in  life,  and  some  can  even  make  it  a 
matter  of  jest.  One  who  had  opportunities  of  meeting 
such  persons  said:  "I  know  some  who  hesitate  and  they 
get  on  very  well."  But  it  was  because  they  got  on  very 
well  that  he  knew  them. 


CHAPTER  III. 

My  own  hope  is  a  sun  will  pierce 

The  thickest  cloud  earth  ever   stretched. 

— Robert  Browning. 

PRIMARY  schools  have  been  called,  with  truth,  "breed- 
*  ing-places  for  speech-hesitation."  For  this  there  may 
be  several  reasons :  Many  children  are  so  nicely  pivoted 
that  only  a  little  forceful  explosion  of  the  vowel  from  the 
throat  and  a  little  more  energy  placed  upon  the  articula- 
tions, are  all  that  is  necessary  to  destroy  the  slight  balance 
and  cause  them  to  hesitate.  Perhaps  a  child  hesitates  but 
little,  and  by  encouragement  and  the  right  kind  of  instruc- 
tion would  overcome  the  slight  impediment.  It  may  be 
that  his  friends  have  avoided  giving  any  attention  to  it, 
thinking  that  if  nothing  was  said,  he  would  be  less  con- 
scious O'f  the  infirmity,  and  be  better  able  to  outgrow  and 
overcome  it.  But  he  'has  discovered  that  he  can  not  speak 
certain  letters  and  words,  and  has  begun  to  avoid  them 
and  substitute  others.  The  teacher  does  not  understand 
that  no  word  or  sound  is  difficult  except  as  it  is  made  so 
by  the  contraction;  i.  e.,  that  the  word  is  simply  subject  to 
the  condition. 

If  one  grasps  his  pen  with  all  the  energy  that  can  be 
concentrated  in  the  muscles  of  the  hand,  he  may  not  be 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  41 

able  to  write,  but  the  pen  is  not  at  fault,  the  impediment 
is  the  misapplied  force. 

The  child  receives  the  usual  phonic  drill,  di- 
rect attention  being  given  to  the  troublesome  sounds,  and 
when  he  struggles  through  them  and  repeats  them  after 
the  teacher,  it  seems  like  a  victory.  But  it  is  a  victory 
that  is  worse  than  a  defeat. 

Reading  is  usually  more  difficult  than  speaking,  be- 
cause every  word  must  be  rendered  literally,  and  learn- 
ing reading  as  it  is  now  taught  is  a  dangerous  experi- 
ment for  a  child  inclined  to  hesitation.  School  is  a  very 
trying  place  for  such  a  child.  He  is  sensitive,  and  knows 
that  every  ear  in  the  school  is  on  the  alert  to  hear  and  to 
magnify  every  fault.  He  is  met  by  anything  but  loving 
sympathy.  The  boys  and  even  the  girls  follow  him  with 
taunts,  shouting  into  his  ear  the  words  of  which  he  is  most 
afraid,  and  imitating  his  efforts.  They  little  know  their 
own  danger.  The  tormenting  spirit  in  boys  is  stimulated 
by  the  helplessness  of  the  object,  who  knows  that  to 
undertake  a  word  in  return  is  to  expose  himself  to  still 
greater  ridicule.  So,  as  a  rule,  he  suffers  in  silence. 

A  young  man  told  me  of  a  boy  who  pursued  him  more 
relentlessly  than  his  other  companions,  and  one  day  his 
courage  was  aroused  to  answer  as  best  he  could, — that 
his  greatest  hope  was  that  he,  the  tormentor,  would  live 


42  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

to  hesitate  as  badly  as  himself.  This  amused  the  boy  so 
that  he  put  greater  determination  than  usual  into  his 
imitations.  "To-day,"  said  the  young  man,  "he  hesitates 
worse  than  I  do.  I  can  to-day  count  twenty  who  hesitate 
because,  when  boys,  they  imitated  me.  I  am  careful  about 
speaking  in  the  presence  of  children,  because  of  their 
imitative  faculty." 

Teachers  can  do  much  to  make  or  mar  in  this  respect. 
Some,  by  their  kindly  helpfulness  in  encouraging  and  in 
screening  a  child  from  the  rudeness  of  the  other  pupils, 
will  sometimes  give  one  Who  is  not  confirmed  in  the  dif- 
ficulty sufficient  confidence  to  carry  him  along.  Others 
will  make  him  unnecessarily  conspicuous  and  by  their 
lack  of  kindly  tact  fix  what  might  easily  have  been  re- 
moved. Several  have  said  to  me :  "I  was  made  to  hesitate 
by  the  severity  of  my  teacher ;"  and  others  who,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, had  no  trouble  in  speaking  were  in  daily  fear 
of  the  teacher.  Finally  a  day  came  when  some  unusual 
little  severity  sent  the  contraction  with  a  grasp  to  the 
throat,  and  it  never  lost  its  hold.  I  have  known  children 
who  would  hesitate  the  year  through  under  one  teacher, 
and  talk  perfectly  with  another.  A  quick,  short,  sharp, 
incisive  manner,  however  kindly,  is  very  trying  to  one 
who  hesitates. 

A  child  who  hesitates  is  a  constant  menace  to  all  the 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 


43 


rest.  Besides  those  who  take  great  pleasure  in  making 
him  wretched,  many  who  do  not  directly  intend  to  imitate 
him  do  so  unconsciously.  Children  in  the  primary  schools, 
being  at  the  imitative  age,  are  uncontrollably  attracted 
and  fascinated  by  anything  out  of  the  usual  course,  es- 
pecially if  it  is  unnatural.  A  mother  of  several  children 
told  me  that  when  they  were  in  the  lower  school-grades, 
there  were  always  some  who  hesitated.  Her  diildren 
took  no  pains  to  imitate  them,  but  they  continually  caught 
it  up.  Said  she :  "I  thought  that  in  spite  of  all  I  could  do 
I  should  have  a  family  who  could  not  talk;  but  I  man- 
aged to  carry  them  through."  All  are  not  as  fortunate. 

Children  are  sensitively  and  delicately  organized.  With 
many  persons,  the  chief  means  of  control  is  fear.  The 
child  so  conditioned  dreads  from  day  to  day  meeting  the 
teacher  and  the  children  with  whom  he  is  associated.  He 
knows  that  every  attempt  at  a  recitation  is  an  exposure  to 
ridicule,  and  out  of  schodl-'hours  he  thinks  of  it  contin- 
ually. Through  the  year  he  becomes  accustomed  to  the 
teacher  and  one  class  of  scholars,  but  through  vacation 
his  mind  is  constantly  dwelling  upon  the  thought  of  the 
new  teacher  and  the  new  class  that  he  must  meet.  The 
question  is :  "Will  the  teacher  be  patient  with  my  infirmity, 
and  will  the  pupils  be  more,  or  less,  insulting  than  those 
in  the  old  class?"  Generally,  the  hesitation  that  com- 


44  SPEECPI-HESITA  TION. 

mences  and  is  developed  in  the  primary  school  increases 
through  the  different  grades,  until  the  child  can  neither 
read  nor  recite. 

Few  contract  the  difficulty  after  reaching  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age,  because  by  that  time  the  muscular  action 
has  become  fixed.  For  the  same  reason,  the  difficulty  of 
changing  the  action  after  that  time  is  increased.  At  the 
present  time,  prevention  is  one  of  the  strong  elements 
in  all  remedial  work.  We  guard  our  schools  carefully 
against  every  other  form  of  infectious  disease,  but  to  this 
the  doors  are  open  wide,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  sorm 
children,  by  hearing  another  hesitate  only  once,  may  be- 
wrecked  for  life. 

It  is  an  ungracious  act  to  criticize,  especially  when  one 
stands  alone  and  aims  his  criticism  at  a  practice  or  a  be- 
lief that  is  generally  accepted  as  the  highest  and  best ;  bui 
this  must  not  deter  me  from  saying  that  our  phonic  sys 
tern  needs  revision,  before  it  can  be  safe  for  any  child. 
By  the  forceful  practice  of  consonants  we  are  helping  or* 
that  great  power  of  misapplied  strength  which  is  the  ban* 
of  pupils  and  the  discouragement  of  a!ll  teachers  of  th£ 
voice.  Speech  is  the  clothing  of  the  thought.  Is  the 
thinker  helped,  either  in  speaking  or  in  singing,  by  being 
reminded  that  a  word  ends  with  a  d,  t  or  s?  Besides  the 
great  energy  employed  in  making  them  so  prominent,  so 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  45 

much  strength  is  drawn  from  the  grasp  at  the  centre. 
"Does  she  not  articulate  well?"  asked  one,  of  a  singer. 
"Yes,  almost  too  well,"  was  the  answer.  And  it  was 
true,  that  the  singer  was  soon  unable  to  sing  at  all.  The 
German  language  abounds  in  consonants,  which  may  be 
the  reason  why  it  is  so  unsafe  to  practice  German  songs. 
Works  upon  the  voice  usually  close  with  a  chapter  giving 
exercises  for  those  who  hesitate,  which  should  never  even 
be  seen  by  them. 

Pupils  who  come  to  me,  almost  without  exception,  re- 
port that  nothing  so  increased  the  hesitation  as  the  phonic 
drill  received  by  them  in  school ;  and  my  greatest  anxiety 
for  them  is  that,  on  returning  to  school,  they  may  be  ex- 
posed to  it  again.  One  with  the  tendency  to  hesitation 
can  not  with  safety  hear  it.  If  such  a  statement  as  this 
had  been  made  to  me  twenty-five  years  ago,  I  should  have 
resented  it;but  now  my  eyes  can  not  be  closed  to  the  truth, 
which  is  that  phonics,  as  they  are  taught,  induce  hesita- 
tion faster  than  we  can  by  any  means  correct  it,  and  where 
it  is  the  most  conscientiously  taught,  the  percentage  of 
hesitation  is  the  highest. 

Without  doubt,  the  remote  cause  of  hesitation  is  mis- 
applied energy.  When  a  child  labors  under  all  the  con- 
traction that  can  be  possible  and  be  able  to  speak,  a  slight 
influence  may  bring  that  contraction  to  a  focus.  A  child 


46  SPEECH-HESITA  TION . 

four  years  old  visited  for  a  few  hours  one  of  about  her 
age  who  hesitated  in  her  speech.  On  her  return  home 
she  imitated  the  child.  Her  friends  were  at  first  amused, 
but  after  a  few  repetitions,  it  became  a  fixed  habit  and 
lasted  through  life.  It  is  a  common  occurrence  that  the 
affection  is  communicated  by  a  nurse  who  is  herself  un- 
der its  influence.  It  may  be  explained  here  that  it  is  not 
necessary  for  one  actually  to  hesitate,  in  order  to  com- 
municate the  difficulty.  A  marked  throat-contraction,  if 
imitated,  may  be  all  that  is  needed  to  carry  it  to  a  child 
sensitive  to  this  influence. 

Twins  eight  years  old  were  in  school  together,  and  a 
little  afraid  of  the  teacher.  One  day  a  question  was  put 
to  one  of  them  with  more  than  usual  directness,  and  he 
could  not  answer.  He  was  supposed  to  be  obstinate. 
When  he  went  home  his  parents  thougfht  the  same,  but 
when  he  tried  to  talk  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that 
he  could  speak  a  word.  In  two  or  three  days  his  brother 
went  through  the  same  experience,  and  neither  of  them 
was  ever  able  to  speak  with  any  freedom.  The  contrac- 
tion, once  focused,  will  remain. 

A  boy  eight  years  old  met  a  man  on  the  street,  who  in- 
quired the  way  to  some  place.  It  was  done  in  so  impera- 
tive a  manner  that  the  boy  was  frightened  and  could  not 
answer.  This  enraged  the  man,  who  thought  that  the  boy 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  47 

was  making  fun  of  him.  The  boy  went  home  in  a  state 
of  intense  excitement,  and  for  some  hours  could  not  utter 
a  syllable.  From  that  time  he  spoke  with  marked  hesita- 
tion. In  my  experience,  whooping-cough,  diphtheria, 
scarlet  fever — any  disease  that  affects  the  throat — may  be 
sufficient  to  fix  the  contraction.  The  cough  that  follows  a 
common  cold,  laughing  with  effort  in  the  throat,  as  so 
many  do,  or  a  blow  on  the  head,  is  liable  to  produce  a 
like  result.  A  boy  exclaimed :  "Ha,  ha,  ha !"  several  times, 
for  fun,  and  it  ended  in  hesitation. 

A  serious  misconception  is  the  classing  of  these  cases 
with  those  of  deaf-mutes,  and  subjecting  them  to  the  same 
kind  of  training.  Deaf-mutism  is  one  thing;  speech-hesi- 
tation is  quite  another.  A  deaf-mute  must  learn  every 
particular  sound;  but  is  it  necessary  for  one  who  has 
formed  every  sound  in  every  combination  until  he  is  six, 
eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  and  perhaps  has  spoken  with 
unusual  clearness,  to  learn  the  structure  of  speech,  if  a 
fright,  blow,  or  severe  illness — any  abrupt  shock — comes 
and  he  suddenly  hesitates  ?  This  minute  he  talks ;  the  next 
he  can  not.  Is  it  because  he  suddenly  forgets  how?  I 
think  not.  The  truth  is  that  he,  like  most  of  the  world, 
has  practiced  a  great  deal  of  throat-contraction,  and  one 
of  these  influences  was  the  last,  decisive  stroke  that  caused 
a  little  more  determined  focusing  of  the  unnatural 
strength,  and  the  slight  balance  was  lost. 


48  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

"Why  does  anyone  talk  like  that  ?"  said  a  person  to  me, 
referring  to  speech-hesitation.  I  said :  "Why  do  you  use 
your  throat  in  that  way?"  "I  do  not  know,"  was  the  an- 
swer. Then  I  explained :  "He  makes  that  contraction  a 
little  more  than  you  do;  that  is  all.  The  result  is  what 
you  see."  It  may  be  added  that  the  questioner  had  pain 
in  the  throat  with  every  slight  cold. 

The  early  part  of  my  work  was  a  line  of  experiments 
with  different  methods,  with  no  settled  opinion  in  re- 
gard to  the  cause.  If  cases  differed  in  severity,  the  reason 
for  the  difference  was  not  clear;  and  what  one  was  able 
to  do,  it  seemed  reasonable  to  expert  of  another.  A  run 
of  mild  cases  for  a  time  seemed  to  favor  t)he  impression. 
One  to  whom  the  process  and  the  reasons  were  explained 
caught  the  principle,  at  once  put  it  inlto  execution,  and 
was  soon  out  of  the  difficulty.  Another  young  man  I 
saw  twice,  about  fifteen  minutes.  He  bravely  hdd  to  the 
right,  although  it  was  new  and  strange  to  him,  and  the 
wrong  by  degrees  disappeared.  He  spoke  in  a  falsetto 
voice,  which  was  caused  by  the  contraction. 

Just  as  I  had  taken  my  seat  on  a  train  one  evening,  for 
a  ride  of  half  an  hour,  a  young  man  took  the  seat  by  me, 
and  began  at  once  telling  me  that  he  had  been  for  some 
years  preparing  himself  for  a  public  speaker,  which  for 
evident  reasons  he  could  never  be,  unless  his  obstacle 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  49 

could  be  removed.  At  once  the  whole  matter  was  ex- 
plained to  him  and  'he  took  a  lesson  on  the  train.  Two 
years  afterward  I  heard  from  him.  He  had  been  able  to 
use  the  instruction  with  entire  success. 

Another  young  man,  who  was  in  danger  of  losing  his 
place  and  who,  when  it  was  most  important  that  he  should 
speak,  could  not  utter  a  sound,  took  ten  lessons,  and  was 
able  to  take  up  the  work  and  carry  it  out  for  himself, 
until  he  could  speak  perfectly.  His  case,  although  severe, 
was  uncomplicated,  i.  e.,  the  contraction  centred  at  the 
vocal  cords,  and  had  not  communicated,  to  any  appreci- 
able extent,  to  other  centres. 

A  young  man  Who  could  never  buy  an  article  at  a  store, 
a  ticket  at  the  railway  ticket-office,  or  make  a  call,  without 
the  greatest  difficulty,  was  able  to  do  all  these  with  per- 
fect freedom,  after  three  weeks'  instruction ;  and  he  com- 
pleted the  work  by  himself.  These  all  were  cases  of  sim- 
ple throat-contraction.  The  seriousness  of  the  case  de- 
pends upon  the  rigidity  and  extent  of  the  contraction,  and 
the  degree  of  mental  complication. 

A  young  woman,  after  the  first  day's  training,  would 
stop  instantly  when  she  saw  that  she  was  going  wrong, 
and  she  never  hesitated  after  the  third  or  the  fourth  day 
It  must  not  be  understood  that  all  tendency  to  hesitate 
was  gone  in  the  time  mentioned,  in  any  of  these  cases. 


50  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

but  the  persons  persistently  aimed  at  the  right  and  re- 
fused to  practice  the  wrong.  The  cases  were  not  com- 
plicated and  the  gain  was  steady  and  sure. 

Two  young  women  Who  were  anxious  for  an  education 
and  who  could  not  attend  school  because  of  their  inability 
to  talk,  began  school  when  partly  relieved,  grew  stronger 
as  they  went  on,  and  became  teachers. 

A  young  man  in  whom  the  contraction  extended  from 
the  throat  to  the  jaw,  lips,  tongue,  eyes,  and  finally  to  the 
hands  and  the  feet,  and  who  could  speak  but  very  little, 
came  to  me  during  the  winter  months.  He  did  farm 
work,  being  unable  to  obtain  other  employment  on  ac- 
count of  his  disability.  After  the  second  winter  he  found 
a  good  situation  and  has  had  no  further  trouble. 

One  case  was  of  a  young  man  suffering  from  chorea. 
His  hands  were  closed  with  thumbs  turned  in  upon  the 
palm,  and  he  had  no  thought  that  they  cou'ld  be  opened. 
It  was  necessary  for  someone  to  cut  his  food.  There 
was  a  great  deal  of  contraction  in  the  face;  the  head 
shook  and  shoulders  lifted.  After  exercising  the  breath- 
ing-muscles in  the  usual  way,  the  young  man  was  sur- 
prised to  find  his  hands  open  upon  the  arms  of  his  chair, 
and  a  general  relaxation  of  all  the  muscles  followed. 
The  speech  gradually  became  free,  and  the  whole  system 
was  restored  to  a  natural  condition.  This  case  confirmed 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  5  r 

the  opinion  that  nervousness  was  an  effect  and  not  a 
cause. 

A  young  man  of  nineteen  came  to  me,  directly  from 
Scotland.  When  eight  years  old,  a  door  was  blown 
against  his  head,  and  from  that  time  he  was  unable  to 
speak.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  best  physicians  in  Glas- 
gow that  he  could  never  be  made  to  speak.  He  commu- 
nicated by  writing,  and  the  mental  complication  was 
strongly  developed.  Sometimes,  hopeless  as  it  was,  he 
would  attempt  to  speak  a  word,  and  the  evident  strain 
showed  that  every  muscle  in  the  system  took  part  in  the 
effort.  In  this,  as  in  some  preceding  cases,  the  question 
was  how  to  find  a  beginning;  but  the  same  process  that 
had  unlocked  the  bars  in  other  cases  opened  the  way  in 
this,  and  soon  the  young  man  could  utter  words,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  he  could  read  to  me,  and  converse 
very  well  He  was  so  sensitive  that  he  would  falter  if 
anyone  passed  through  the  room,  but,  being  encouraged, 
after  a  time  he  read  with  the  class,  and  at  the  end  of  ten 
months,  when  he  left  me,  he  could  transact  business  any- 
where, and  was  speaking  at  public  meetings. 

In  several  cases  where  speech  was  impossible,  words 
and  their  meanings  were  fully  recognized  and  understood 
when  seen  in  print,  but  there  was  no  mental  connection 
between  the  printed  and  the  spoken  word,  and  it  was 


52  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

necessary  to  learn  it  as  something  new  and  foreign.  A 
boy  six  years  old,  knowing  that  he  could  not  speak  (the 
reason  was  a  contraction  at  the  glottis)  refused  to  try. 
When  the  right  way  was  explained  to  him,  he  put  it  into 
practice  at  once,  and  in  three  days  was  talking  with  per- 
fect freedom.  This  went  on  we'll  for  a  while,  but  he  was 
not  kept  under  training  until  strong,  and  the  result  was  a 
relapse. 

In  the  first  place,  the  boy  did  well  to  keep  silence. 
In  that  way  communication  of  the  difficulty  to  other  parts 
of  the  system  was  avoided;  but,  after  once  talking  well, 
he  dropped  back  by  degrees,  and  then  fie  diose  the  strug- 
gle with  the  contraction  rather  than  the  silence.  The  con- 
traction was  very  great,  and  became  communicated  to  the 
muscles  of  the  neck,  right  arm,  and  right  leg.  When  he 
returned  to  me  in  about  two  years,  he  bent  his  head  from 
side  to  .side  and  lifted  his  right  leg  and  right  arm  in 
his  attempts  to  speak.  His  parents  expected  that  the 
first  experience  would  be  repeated,  and  it  was  difficult 
for  them  at  once  to  see  that  we  were  now  dealing  with  a 
\ery  different  case;  but  the  work  was  finally  accom- 
plished. 

When  the  contraction  extends  to  hands  and  feet,  the 
case  is  considerably  complicated.  Two  young  men  whose 
symptoms  compared  almost  exactly  were  receiving  in- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  53 

struction  at  the  same  time.  The  feet  were  lifted,  the 
hands  contracted,  and  the  winking  of  the  eyelids  was  ab- 
normally frequent,  showing  that  the  contraction  extended 
from  the  top  of  the  head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot.  One  be- 
lieved in  what  he  was  doing,  and  held  and  used  every  gain 
that  was  made,  and  so  worked  on  perseveringly  until  en- 
tire freedom  was  gained.  The  other  had  no  faith,  could 
see  no  good  in  anything  that  did  not  bring  perfection  in  a 
little  time.  When  a  gain  was  evident,  he  believed  it  would 
not  last,  and  proceeded  to  prove  his  position  by  refusing 
to  continue  the  practice.  Of  course,  all  work  with  him 
was  a  failure. 

Wherever  the  contraction  centres,  the  sense  of  weak- 
ness that  follows  will,  like  any  other  physical  ailment, 
affect  the  mind  in  a  degree ;  but  it  is  only  when  the  prom- 
inent symptom  is  speech-hesitation  that  the  mind  suffers 
seriously.  But  the  mental  complication  is  an  effect  and 
not  a  cause,  and  in  all  cases  that  have  come  under  my  ob- 
servation, the  organs  of  speech  are  without  fault;  and 
besides,  when  the  physical  disability  is  removed,  tihe  men- 
tal affection  gradually  disappears.  There  may  be  some 
question,  however,  whether  the  great  strain  caused  by  the 
contraction  may  not  in  some  cases  affect  the  brain. 

One  who  took  a  three  weeks'  course  with  me  said  that 
he  could  both  hear  and  see  better,  as  the  contraction  came 


54  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

tinder  control.  A  marked  feature  of  his  case  was  that  he 
felt  a  pressure  in  the  right  side  of  his  head  Which,  when 
he  tried  to  talk,  was  almost  a  pain.  The  contraction  in 
his  case  was  centred  in  the  throat,  neck  and  face.  His 
mind  was  clearer  and  he  could  think  better  when  the 
strain  was  removed  from  the  head. 

A  young  lady  made  a  similar  report  of  herself.  She 
had  a  very  loud  voice,  which  had  been  intensified  by 
shouting,  and  Which  seemed  directed  to  the  lower  jaw. 
She  and  her  friends  had  for  some  time  been  conscious 
that  her  mind  was  being  affected  in  some  way.  She  wrote 
after  her  return  home,  referring  to  the  effect  of  the  treat- 
ment on  'her  mental  condition :  "It  is  the  difference  be- 
tween a  cloudy  day  and  a  bright  June  morning." 

A  little  girl  six  years  of  age  came  to  me  for  training. 
Nothing  had  been  noticeable  in  her  speech  until,  when 
she  was  about  four  years  old,  being  outdoors  at  play,  a 
watering-cart  went  by,  and  suddenly  sprinkled  water  upon 
her.  She  was  frightened  and  seriously  shocked,  and  from 
that  time  she  began  to  hesitate  in  speaking.  The  fright 
created  no  new  conditions,  but  developed  or  focused  those 
that  already  existed,  i.  e.,  tightened  and  fixed  a  con- 
traction that  might  otherwise  have  beetn  overcome.  Both 
legs  were  weak ;  she  lifted  her  right  foot  and  right  hand 
and  bent  her  head,  her  face  becoming  very  red  in  her 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  55 

efforts  to  speak.  She  was  also  subject  to  periodical  at- 
tacks of  nausea.  The  contraction  in  the  tongue  and  the 
jaw  was  most  m'arked,  but  no  symptom  was  unusual. 
She  was  with  me  some  months,  and  during  that  time  the 
effort  in  the  leg  and  the  hand  disappeared,  and  was  nearly 
gone  from  the  tongue.  The  nausea  also  disappeared.  Con- 
siderable throat-contraction  remained,  but  was  gradually 
becoming  less.  A't  this  stage  a  removal  to  a  distant  city 
interrupted  the  course  of  treatment.  At  that  time  slhe 
seemed  to  be  on  the  road  to  perfect  recovery,  and,  in- 
deed, to  the  general  observer  she  appeared  well.  If  all  in- 
fluences had  been  favorable  and  if  hers  had  been  an  or- 
dinary case,  she  would  have  continued  growing  stronger ; 
but  when  she  caught  a  little  in  the  throat,  a  boy  imitated 
and  laughed  at  her,  and,  being  sensitive,  it  was  more  than 
she  could  bear.  From  that  time  she  grew  worse.  The 
contraction  in  the  tongue  assumed  a  more  violent  form, 
and  the  disability  in  the  right  arm  and  leg  returned,  and 
so  increased  that  both  became  useless.  Finally,  it  became 
evident  to  those  who  understood  the  symptoms,  that  the 
brain  was  in  some  way  affected.  She  was  a  very  interest- 
ing and  intelligent  child.  If  there  was  bilain  disease  in 
the  beginning,  could  the  unfavorable  symptoms  have  been 
removed  by  vocal  training?  The  specialist  who  exam- 
ined the  child  saw  symptoms  indicating  a  tumor  of  the 


56  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

brain,  but  he  stated  also  that  some  symptoms  necessary 
to  prove  it  were  wanting.  The  child  died  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital.  A  post-mortem  examination 
showed  a  diseased  brain,  but,  as  reported  to  me,  there  was 
no  tumor.  One  of  the  best  authorities,  who  examined  the 
child  before  she  went  to  the  hospital,  thought  there  might 
be  a  small  chance  for  her  recovery.  Since  noticing  with 
greater  care  the  effect  of  gymnastic  exercises,  I  think  that 
we  may  have  lost  the  slight  chance  by  encouraging  her 
to  use  her  limbs  while  they  were  in  an  abnormal  condi- 
tion. 

The  contraction  may  exist  as  an  all-prevailing  influence 
throughout  the  system,  and  never  centre  at  any  given 
point,  unless  developed  by  fright,  fever,  whooping-cough, 
or  any  other  positive  influence  that  brings  it  to  a  focus. 

Children  under  the  influence  of  abnormal  muscular  con- 
traction dread  to  be  alone,  and  are  likely  to  be  afraid  of 
the  dark.  They  are  commonly  styled  "nervous  children. ' 
To  spring  at  a  child  to  frighten  away  hiccough  is  an  un- 
safe thing  to  do,  and  cases  of  convulsions  have  been  re- 
ported to  me  as  caused  by  tossing  a  child  in  the  air  just  for 
exercise  or  for  fun.  When  the  contraction  exists  in  this 
general  way,  as  nature  is  helpful,  strength  may  be  un- 
consciously established  at  the  true  centre,  or  a  slight  over- 
balance at  any  point  may  be  overcome,  and  then  the  child 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  57 

outgrows  it;  or  the  contraction  may  at  any  time  develop 
any  conditions  of  which  it  is  capable. 

As  a  case  of  serious  misplaced  contraction  develops,  it 
may  change  character  arid  show  new  and  more  aggra- 
vated symptoms.  A  child  eight  years  of  age  had  scarlet 
fever,  which  induced  speech-hesitation.  After  a  time  the 
hesitation  stopped  and  epilepsy  followed.  A  young  man 
whose  physical  system  suffered  severely  from  the  con- 
traction-and  in  whom  speech-hesitation  was  a  marked 
symptom,  met  with  a  great  disappointment,  which  de- 
veloped epilepsy.  In  some  serious  cases  of  speech-hesita- 
tion it  has  been  noticed  that  one  of  the  parents  was  an 
epileptic. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Truth  is  the   strong  thing. — Robert  Browning. 

ALTHOUGH  the  mild  cases  opened  the  way  to  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  nature  and  consequent  manner 
of  treatment  of  this  peculiar  malady,  it  is  from  the  sever- 
est cases  that  positive  information  has  been  obtained.  If 
.a  child  does  not  cry  at  birth,  he  may  be  a  cripple  without 
a  voice.  If  the  cry  is  produced  with  difficulty,  he  lives 
under  the  disadvantage  of  a  partly  disorganized  condition, 
varying  in  different  individuals.  In  Rhode  Island  any 
person  having  charge  of  an  infant  is  expected,  if  the  eyes 
are  not  in  a  perfect  condition,  to  report  the  fact  to  the 
health  officer  immediately.  This  is  an  act  to  prevent 
blindness.  We  are  looking  for  some  way  in  which  to  pre- 
vent speech-disturbances.  As  the  conditions  that  develop 
all  the  various  symptoms,  including  speech-hesitation,  be- 
gin at  birth,  would  it  not  be  well  for  all  Who  have  the 
care  of  children  to  know  and  to  be  able  to  report  the 
voice-conditions  of  every  child  ?  We  shall  sometime  reach 
that  point.  If  to-d!ay  our  kindergarten  and  primary 
teachers  were  models  in  all  that  relates  to  the  voice,  and 
were  required  to  train  their  pupils  properly,  much  might 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  59 

be  done  in  the  way  of  prevention ;  but  the  training  should 
begin  by  imitation,  before  the  child  learns  to  talk.  In  this 
way  all  mental  complications  would  be  avoided,  and  the 
speech  would  not  be  in  the  way  of  the  general  develop- 
ment. The  most  pernicious  advice  that  can  be  given  is, 
"Let  him  be;  he  will  outgrow  it."  It  is  as  two  grains  of 
wheat  hidden  in  two  bushels  of  chaff.  There  is  no  error 
so  hard  to  meet  and  to  refute  as  one  that  contains  an  ele- 
ment of  truth.  It  is  true  that  a  few,  in  whom  the  con- 
traction is  slight,  outgrow  it;  but,  unfortunately,  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  multitude  do  not. 

Sometimes  a  little  common-sense  training,  like  "Wait 
till  the  excitement  is  over,"  or  reading  aloud,  declamation, 
talking  out  courageously,  or  speaking  the  words  with 
decision,  may  relieve  the  self-consciousness  and  restore 
the  needed  balance.  Many  a  mother  has  saved  her  child 
from  a  chronic  condition,  by  obliging  him  to  stop  till  he 
could  speak  without  hesitation.  Counting  any  number  be- 
fore speaking  has  the  same  effect.  Any  emotion  crowds 
toward  the  throat;  that  removed,  the  contraction  drops 
to  its  proper  place. 

Avicenna,  an  Arabian  physician,  born  in  980,  recom- 
mended taking  a  full  breath  before  speaking.  Perhaps  no 
device  has  received  more  attention  or  done  greater  in- 
jury. It  is  opposed  to  nature's  economy,  which  is  to  do  the 


60  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

most  work  with  the  least  material.  It  is  a  common  but 
false  notion  that  a  person  who  hesitates  speaks  upon 
exhausted  lungs.  Some,  because  of  the  contraction,  do 
exhaust  the  lungs  when  beginning  to  speak;  so  do  many 
wlho  do  not  hesitate.  Every  inspiration  is  sufficient  for 
ordinary  speaking;  more  than  that  embarrasses  and  hin- 
ders. Just  stopping  (to  take  a  'full  breath  may  help  one 
over  a  hard  place  for  a  time,  but  the  effect  is  weakening 
and  leaves  him  less  able  than  before  to  meet  an  emer- 
gency. Besides,  it  becomes,  as  any  trick  or  device  may  be, 
a  subterfuge,  which  is  an  unsafe  reliance. 

Several  cases  have  been  reported  to  me  which  were 
very  successfully  treated  by  Whipping.  When  the  child 
began  to  hesitate,  the  father,  and  sometimes  the  mother, 
administered  the  chastisement.  It  is  a  most  unsafe  ex- 
periment. Many  children,  if  subjected  to  it,  would  be 
liable  to  be  thrown  into  convulsions  or  'seriously  injured 
mentally. 

In  a  few  cases,  a  slight  movement  called  "a  trick"  mav 
give  relief.  But  tricks  should  be  used  with  caution,  and 
never  in  serious  cases,  because  one  may  in  this  way  add 
tension  to  an  already  overstrained  part.  In  this  haphaz- 
ard treatment,  which  gives  no  definite  aim,  what  helps  one 
is  not  likely  to  relieve  another. 

The  person  who  cures  'himself  is  everywhere.    Meeting 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  6 1 

such  cases  'frequently,  a  special  study  was  made  of  their 
peculiarities,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  from  this  source  a 
more  direct  and  satisfactory  light.  Most  of  them  told  me 
frankly  that  they  had  no  idea  'how  it  was  done.  "I  made 
up  my  mind  that  I  would  not  hesitate;  that  is  all  that  I 
can  say  about  it."  Others  said:  "My  mother  stopped 
me  every  time  I  began  to  go  wrong."  One  lady  applied 
for  a  position,  which  was  refused  because  of  her  speech- 
disability.  She  promised  that  she  would  'Stop  the  hesita- 
tion at  once  if  the  position  was  given  to  her.  As  her  char- 
acter eminently  qualified  her,  the  place  was  given,  and  she 
carried  out  her  determination  to  the  letter,  but  could  give 
me  no  hint  of  'how  it  was  done. 

Others  have  said  that  when  old  enough  to  be  sensitive  in 
regard  to  their  affliction  and  to  see  the  disadvantages  con- 
nected with  it,  they  have  managed,  in  some  way  unknown 
to  themselves,  to  gain  control  of  it.  Others,  by  assuming 
a  coincidence  they  did  not  feel,  have  risen  above  it.  One 
gentleman  said  that  when  a  boy,  his  associates  urged  him 
to  join  a  debating  society.  He  declined,  explaining  that 
he  could  not,  for  obvious  reasons,  take  part  in  debate. 
But  the  boys  wanted  him,  and  induced  him  to  join.  They 
knew  that  in  every  other  way  he  was  fully  their  equal, 
so  they  urged  until  he  was  induced  to  make  a  trial.  The 
boys  were  helpful;  he  got  on  better  than  he  expected; 


62  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

the  experiment  was  repeated,  and  in  this  way  he  over- 
came the  whole  trouble.  He  does  not  know  how  much  he 
owes  those  boys.  If  they  had  laughed  at  him,  the  reverse 
would  >no  doubt  have  been  the  result. 

A  person  said  to  me :  "I  do  not  see  why  one  needs 
assistance  to  overcome  speech-affection." 

"Do  you  understand  the  difficulty?"  I  asked. 

"I  think  I  do;  I  had  as  much  trouble  as  anyone  could." 

"How  did  you  overcome  it?"  I  inquired. 

"Just  as  I  do  everything  else;  when  I  make  up  my  mind 
to  a  thing,  it  is  done." 

Very  little  of  the  information  gained  in  this  way  was 
suggestive  or  helpful. 

In  my  experience  this  trouble  is  usually  intensified  in 
the  second  generation.  Many  a  father  who  has  "cured" 
himself  expects  his  son  to  do  the  same.  The  father  has  no 
knowledge  of  the  way  in  which  he  found  relief;  he  can 
make  no  comparison  between  his  own  case  and  that  of  his 
son,  wihom  he  charges  with  want  of  will.  He  does  not 
know  that  while  one  may  be  so  conditioned  that  an  ex- 
ercise of  will  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  carry  him  through, 
another,  by  the  exercise  of  the  same  amount  will,  may 
only  increase  and  tighten  the  contraction.  A  father  need 
never  expect  his  son  to  follow  his  example  in  this  respect. 

In  other  diseases  we  expect  difference  of  degree,  and 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  63 

this  is  no  exception.  That  a  person  must  experience  the 
difficulty  before  he  is  fitted  to  give  instruction  is  one  of 
the  superstitions  growing  out  of  the  general  ignorance 
upon  the  subject.  Upon  this  principle,  a  physician  should 
contract  all  the  diseases  he  is  called  upon  to  treat.  The 
differences  caused  by  heredity,  temperament,  and  the  al- 
most endless  variations  in  the  extent  of  the  contraction, 
can  only  be  understood  by  comparing  many  cases  one 
with  another,  from  the  general  standpoint  of  cause  and 
effect.  There  is  a  limit  beyond  which  no  case  can  be 
outgrown,  where  shouting,  or  the  exercise  of  will,  but 
tightens  the  fetters  already  too  closely  drawn;  where  all 
the  simple  means  that  have  indirectly  given  relief  to  many 
art  not  only  useless  but  harmful.  Persons  so  conditioned 
never  find  the  way  blindly;  the  difficulty  is  radical,  and 
must  receive  radical  treatment. 

Two  distinct  principles  enter  into  the  formation  of  per- 
fect speech, — absolute  hold  of  the  breath,  centring  where 
it  turns  to  go  out ;  and  absolute  let  go  above  that  point. 
If  any  deviation  from  these  conditions  exists,  the  remedy 
lies  in  a  return  to  the  normal.  If  a  person  overcomes  any 
phase  of  the  muscular  disorganization,  of  which  speech- 
hesitation  is  a  prominent  symptom,  it  is  because,  either 
blindly  or  otherwise,  he  finds  these  principles,  and  puts 
them  into  practice. 


64  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

Every  teacher  has  been  limited  by  the  traditionary  opin- 
ion that  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  done  is  to  learn  to  talk ; 
therefore,  a  "perfect  and  permanent  cure"  should  be  ef- 
fected in  a  short  time.  He  is  also  expected  to  cure  every 
case  without  any  exception,  and  every  dase  is  to  be  placed 
beyond  the  possibility  of  a  relapse.  This  is  to  be  per- 
formed by  some  magic  or  sleight  of  hand  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher,  which  leaves  the  pupil  free  from  all  respon- 
sibility. 

I  asked  the  clergyman  who  took  lessons  of  Mme.  Seiler 
how  long  it  was  before  all  tendency  to  contract  the  mus- 
cles of  the  throat  was  gone.  He  said :  "From  three  to 
four  years."  He  took  lessons  four  weeks,  and  went  di- 
rectly into  his  pulpit.  When  'he  felt  the  contraction  ris- 
ing, 'he  stopped  and  waited  until  it  ha'd  'dropped  to  its 
proper  place.  He  did  the  same  in  conversation.  He  said . 
"It  is  death  to  me  to  allow  the  wrong,  and  life  to  do  the 
right ;  therefore,  I  never  speak  under  the  influence  of  the 
contraction." 

When  we  consider  that  the  conditions  which  lead  up  to 
speech-hesitation  begin  at  birth,  and  that  the  muscles 
which  are  to  be  brought  into  exercise  have  been  for  years 
in  a  chronic  state  of  disuse,  we  can  understand  that  in 
many  cases  they  must  be  brought  into  a  state  of  activity 
by  the  exercise  of  the  greatest  care,  because  overwork  re- 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  65 

acts  upon  the  throat-muscles  and  increases  the  contrac- 
tion. 

It  should  be  known,  also,  that  it  is  the  few  who  suffer 
no  recurrence  or  relapse.  A  small  percentage  will  guin 
steadily  to  the  end,  but  the  ordinary  and  especially  the 
severe  case  will  be  liable  to  relapse;  there  will  be  ups 
and  downs  until  the  muscular  energy  has  gained  a  nor- 
mal strength.  Whenever  one  is  tired,  or  suffering  from 
any  physical  ailment,  the  old  contraction  is  liable  to  as- 
sert itself.  At  such  times  it  would  be  well  to  remain 
quiet,  because  one  gains  only  when  doing  right.  When 
a  person  has  lived  under  the  great  strain  for  years,  he 
loses  the  power  of  comparison  in  this  matter,  and  if  the 
load  is  partly  lifted,  he  may  believe  himself  to  be  per- 
fecc,  when  the  work  is  only  begun. 

Occasionally  one  will  be  able  to  'hold  a  part  gain,  but, 
as  a  rule,  there  is  no  safety  except  perfection,  and  the  pu- 
pil should  remain  under  the  eye  of  a  teacher  until  he 
knows  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and  can 
do  the  one  and  avoid  the  other.  The  most  discouraging 
feature  of  the  work  is  that  one  must  go  back  to  what 
should  have  been  accomplished  When  learning  to  talk,  be- 
cause human  nature  revolts  against  a  backward  move- 
ment; but  whoever  will  pursue  it  patiently,  persistently, 
and  perseveringly  will  conquer  in  the  end. 


66  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

It  is  like  aiming  at  a  mark.  At  first  there  will  be  fre- 
quent failures,  but  if  the  aim  is  continued  the  time  will 
come  when  the  mark  will  be  struck  always;  'i.  e.,  every 
word  will  be  spoken  without  misplaced  contraction. 


CHAPTER  V. 

There  is  much  music,  excellent  voice,  in  this  little 
organ  ;   yet  can  not  you  make  it  speak  ? — Hamlet. 

NE  form  of  serious  speech-disturbance  is  undevel- 
oped  articulation.  We  meet  persons  frequently,  who 
omit  a  sound  or  substitute  another.  Common  illustra- 
tions are  the  omission  of  'the  letter  r,  or  the  substitution  of 
w  or  /,  d  for  hard  g  or  k,  or  the  combination  th  for  s, 
commonly  called  "a  lisp."  Speech  begins  with  short  u  or 
ugh,  and  they  are  often  ma'de  to  fill  the  place  of  any  other 
vowel.  The  diphthong  ou  is  often  substituted  for  long  i, 
and  there  is  a  general  inability  to  make  the  vowel-sound 
tine  to  its  character.  Any  failure  in  this  respect  suggests 
a  reversion  to  a  primitive  type.  The  Chinese  as  a  nation 
omit  r ;  the  Ephraimites  used  s  in  the  place  of  sh.  Trav- . 
elers  have  stated  that  the  Society  Islanders  can  not  pro- 
nounce the  hard  g  and  k ;  i.  e.,  they  never  lift  the  back  of 
the  tongue.  In  learning  to  articulate,  a  child  does  what  is 
easiest.  The  lips  when  at  rest  are  in  position  to  form 
labials.  For  that  reason  a  child  may  say  "mama"  and 
"papa,"  and  go  no  farther.  The  dentals  are  nearly  as 
easy,  as  the  tongue  when  at  rest  is  in  the  proper  place  for 
their  expression.  In  forming  other  consonants,  the 


68  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

tongue  or  the  lips  must  make  a  special  movement  if  the 
sound  is  produced;  and  if  one  is  not  imitative  in  this  re- 
spect, and  is  not  able  to  connect  the  sound  with  the  exact 
movement  that  produces  the  sound,  his  speech  may  be  a 
jargon.  An  omission  or  a  substitution  in  the  case  of  one 
sound  is  noticeable,  but  in  some  cases  so  many  letters 
are  omitted  or  substituted  as  to  render  the  speech  unin- 
telligible. When  the  entire  articulative  process  is  so 
changed,  something  like  a  new  language  is  formed.  Some- 
times several  in  a  family  are  so  affected,  understanding 
each  other  but  having  little  verbal  communication  with 
the  outside  world.  This  is  not  owing  to  originality.  Usu- 
ally the  disability  is  keenly  felt,  and  the  child  is  glad  to 
learn.  The  parents  and  the  nurse  learned  to  talk  uncon- 
sciously, and  have  no  knowledge  of  how  to  correct  the  er- 
ror. The  contraction  that  causes  speech-hesitation  is 
found  in  every  varying  degree,  in  complication  with  this 
form  of  speech-affection.  The  weakness  at  the  centre 
causes  an  abnormal  peripheral  activity.  The  child  per- 
haps is  sent  out  to  run  off  that  misapplied  force,  when 
what  he  needs  is  energy  at  the  centre.  Sometimes  the  ab- 
normal energy  is  so  great  as  to  suggest  insanity.  As  the 
power  otf  imitation  differs  in  degree,  some  children,  as 
they  grow  older,  will  see  the  wrong  and  be  able  to  cor- 
rect it.  This  usually  occurs  within  the  first  six  years  of  a 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  69 

child's  life.  It  is  unsafe  to  trust  to  this,  because  every  ar- 
ticulation is  a  muscular  action  which  has  a  tendency  to 
'become  automatic  by  repetition.  Some  of  the  best  au- 
thorities believe  thai  the  failure  in  a  child  to  talk  perfect- 
ly at  six  years  of  age,  by  simply  hearing  words  spoken 
by  others,  is  conclusive  evidence  of  mental  weakness. 
There  are  feeble-minded  persons  who  hesitate  in  speak- 
ing, because  muscular  contraction  in  them  is  indiscrim- 
inative.  No  doubt  there  are  feeble-minded  children  who 
fail  to  articulate,  but  the  large  proportion  of  bright 
children  who  can  not  articulate,  but  who  learn  rapidly 
under  proper  instruction,  proves  that  this  disability  does 
not  always  mean  mental  weakness. 

Demosthenes  did  not  (hesitate.  He  could  not  form  the 
letter  r,  and  his  articulation  was  not  clear.  Shouting  to 
the  waves  was  a  dangerous  experiment,  but  it  succeed- 
ed with  him,  and  his  voice  gained  strength.  The  pebbles 
obliged  him  to  individualize  the  words,  instead  of  run- 
ning them  together.  It  is  said  that  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
spent  the  most  of  three  years  of  his  life  in  overcoming  an 
indistinctness  in  his  speech  that  unfitted  him  for  pulpit 
oratory. 

The  advice,  "Let  him  be;  he  will  outgrow  it,"  or 
"He  will  speak  words  when  he  sees  the  need,"  is  most 
pernicious  for  any  form  of  speech-affection.  It  may  be 


70  SPEECH-HESITATION. 

doing  a  child  an  irreparable  wrong, — nay,  it  is  almost 
criminal,  to  leave  out  of  the  first  years  of  his  life  this 
greatest  means  of  development.  If,  as  some  believe, 
words  are  necessary  to  thought,  these  children  have  been 
obliged  to  work  with  very  imperfect  material.  Some  of 
them,  having  great  force  of  character,  keep  pace  very  well 
with  other  children;  but,  in  general,  to  judge  them  by 
those  who  can  speak  correctly,  i's  making  a  most  unfair 
comparison.  One  who  'has  traveled  in  a  foreign  country 
where  no  one  understood  his  language,  will  have  some 
conception  of  the  strain  upon  suc'h  a  life.  Besides,  one 
suffers  physically  from  the  loss  of  the  healthful  exercise 
that  comes  from  the  constant  use  of  correct  speedi.  If  a 
child  has  no  speech-instinct  or  'desire  for  communication, 
he  will  not  learn  to  talk  unless  a  responsive  spirit  can  be 
aroused. 

A  boy  nine  years  old  could  speak  no  word  so  that  it 
could  be  understood.  The  tongue  through  overexercise 
became  so  large  as  to  interfere  with  the  swallowing.  As 
it  lay  out  of  the  mouth,  there  could  be  no  articulation.  The 
strength  in  the  tongue  was  greater  than  in  the  throat- 
muscles,  therefore  there  was  no  hesitation  sufficient  to 
stop  speech.  He  was  a  very  active  boy,  but  not  strong. 
He  fell  frequently,  because  of  weakness  of  his  legs;  he 
could  not  dress  himself,  because  his  fingers  were  too  weak 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 


71 


to  fasten  his  clothing;  and  he  was  unable  to  put  on  his 
coat  and  overshoes.  There  were  growths  in  his  nasal 
passage,  which  were  removed.  Whenever  the  force  is 
wrongly  centred,  there  are  liable  to  be  abnormal  growths, 
or  some  either  form  of  disease. 

These  extreme  symptoms  were  new,  and  the  case  was 
watched  with  the  greatest  interest.  Soon  it  was  evident 
that  as  the  effort  was  removed  from  the  tongue  and  the 
jaw,  the  difficulty  in  swallowing  was  corrected,  and 
Strength  came  to  every  part  of  the  system.  He  was  very 
social,  and  his  inability  to  make  himself  understood  was 
a  very  great  strain  upon  the  nervous  system.  Sometimes 
he  would  stamp  and  scream  with  all  his  might,  but  as  the 
unnatural  energy  was  removed  from  the  tongue,  it  gradu- 
ally fell  into  place.  He  soon  learned  to  form  sounds.  In 
four  months'  time  he  could  speak  any  word,  and  the  diffi- 
culty in  swallowing  disappeared.  But  the  most  noticeable 
feature  in  the  case  was  that,  as  the  great  force  left  the 
tongue,  strength  came  to  his  legs  and  fingers. 

The  boy  did  his  paft  of  the  work  well.  He  never  failed 
in  the  utmost  exactness  in  carrying  out  instructions.  An- 
other boy,  sixteen  years  old,  could  speak  but  two  words. 
He  was  as  conscientious  and  as  anxious  to  learn  as  the 
former  boy,  but  the  symptoms  were  more  confirmed,  re- 
quiring a  longer  time  for  removal.  This  boy  was  gener- 


72  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

ally  weak.  He  stooped,  'his  feet  dragged,  his  arms  hung 
in  a  lifeless  way,  and  he  was  subject  to  nausea.  As  he 
learned  to  use  his  voice,  he  grew  strong,  and  all  the  symp- 
toms changed  for  the  better.  When  'he  did  his  first  er- 
rand at  a  store,  and  was  understood,  the  hopelessness  in 
him  gave  place  to  courage,  and  he  began  to  feel  that  he 
was  a  man.  At  birth  it  Was  with  difficulty  that  he  was 
made  to  breathe,  and  he  was  in  spasms  most  of  the  time 
for  'three  days. 

A  little  girl  seven  years  of  age  spoke  but  a  very 
few  words.  She  had  learned  to  communicate  entirely  by 
pantomime.  She  could  generally  make  us  understand  by 
that  means  all  she  would  have  been  glad  to  say.  She  was 
in  a  condition  that  suggested  insanity,  and  at  first  an  at- 
tempt to  try  to  place  the  tongue  and  lips  was  a  great  trial. 
Her  nervousness  was  so  great  that  a  minute  was  a  long 
time  for  'her  to  practice.  But  soon  s'he  began  to  be  proud 
that  she  could  speak  a  new  word ;  that  induced  her  to  aim 
at  words  that  she  could  not  speak,  and  then  she  gained 
faster.  When  she  learned  a  new  sound  she  would  for 
some  time  put  it  everywhere,  but  every  gain  made  way  for 
another,  and  now  she  says  most  ordinary  words,  and  ap- 
plies them  properly.  She  lias  read  three  Second  Readers 
through,  and  has  commenced  the  Third  Reader.  She  had 
a  can  of  water  out-of-doors,  and  someone  asked  her  if 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION.  73 

she  knew  where  there  was  a  cylinder.  She  at  once 
pointed  to  the  can  and  said :  "That  is  a  cylinder."  The 
f\rst  word  she  learned  to  spell  was  "cat,"  and  it  was  a 
serious  process ;  but  now  she  can  learn  to  spell  any  vv  jrd 
of  one  syllable  by  studying  it  over  once  or  twice.  She  has 
been  with  me  a  year. 

Sometimes  the  hesitation  and  the  failure  in  articulation 
combine  in  one  case.  In  a  little  boy  of  five  the  muscles  of 
the  throat  closed  when  he  attempted  to  speak.  He  would 
open  his  mouth  and  grow  red  in  the  face,  but  could  not 
make  a  sound  because  of  the  effort  in  the  throat.  He  ap- 
peared to  have  croup  with  every  slight  cold.  There  was 
no  recurrence  pf  this  symptom  after  the  contraction  was 
removed.  So  many  sounds  were  omitted  or  changed 
about,  that  when  he  could  speak  'he  could  not  be  under- 
stood. He  brought  a  pear  to  me,  and  asked :  "II  a  woup  ?'" 
("Is  it  ripe?")  That  sentence  is  an  illustration  of  the 
whole.  The  child  was  so  sensitive  in  regard  to  his  speech 
that  he  would  not  try  to  speak  to  anyone  outside  of  his 
own  family ;  but  he  overcame  it  all. 

Dr.  Lennox  Browne,  in  "Voice,  Song  and  Speech," 
basing  his  information  on  the  report  made  by  Mr.  Robert 
M.  Zug  in  Werner's  Magazine  for  January,  1879, 
states  upon  a  computation  of  five  in  1,000  in  1870,  that 
the  number  of  those  who  hesitate  in  the  United  States 


74  SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 

alone,  is  almost  three  times  that  of  the  blind,  insane  and 
deaf-mutes  added  together. 

In  the  public  schools  of  Boston,  according  to  fhe  latest 
statistics,  there  are  500,  or  seven  in  1,000,  who  speak  with 
difficulty.  One  who  understands  the  situation  said :  "We 
do  not  know  what  to  do,  so  we  pay  no  attention  to  them 
till  they  get  so  bad  that  they  can  not  talk  at  all." 

During  our  great  World's  Fair  in  Chicago,  the  proud 
toast  was  made  in  one  of  the  leading  periodicals  that 
•every  important  subject  was  to  be  discussed  and  that  the 
various  committees  had  planned  to  omit  nothing  that  was 
worthy  of  their  attention.  But  this  great  army  of  suffer- 
ers was  wholly  ignored.  Not  a  voice  was  heard  even  so 
mudh  as  to  report  whether  or  not  the  darkness  had  been 
penetrated  by  one  ray  of  light.  Yet  in  vital  consequence 
it  might  well  have  stood  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

It  may  be  questioned  if  a  work  so  important  should  be 
left  wholly  to  the  judgment  or  the  caprice  of  parents,  and 
if  it  would  not  be  proper  for  tthe  State  to  know  how  many 
and  who  are  affected  with  speech-disability,  and  oblige  the 
parents  to  attend  to  it,  furnishing  a  school  for  those  who 
are  unable  to  bear  the  expense.  A  difficulty  that  disables 
a  young  man  from  joining  the  army  is  certainly  worthy 
the  attention  of  the  government. 

The  terms  generally  used  in  defining  speech-hesitation 


SPEECH-HESITA  TION. 


75 


are- omitted  in  this  treatise,  because,  first,  they  give  un- 
due prominence  to  what  is  merely  one  symptom  of  i 
serious  physical  derangement;  second,  persons  showing 
that  symptom  are  not  a  unique  and  separate  class;  as  has 
been  supposed,  but  the  conditions  that  often  exist  in  a 
marked  degree  in  many  not  suspected  of  any  speech-irreg- 
ularity are  exaggerated  in  them ;  third,  the  words  are  in 
themselves  so  unpleasant  and  conspicuous  as  to  be  objects 
of  dread  to  those  to  whom  they  are  applied.  It  would  be 
well  if  they  could  be  stricken  from  the  language. 

For  the  same  reason  the  word  "defective"  has  not  been 
used.  Speech-hesitation  has  but  one  cause,  which  is  mis- 
placed contraction.  Defect  in  the  organs  of  speech  has  no 
connection  with  the  subject  under  discussion. 

Dr.  L.  G.  Howe,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  a 
public  building  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  said:  "The  institu- 
tion whose  foundation-stone  is  to  be  laid  will  be  the  last 
link  in  a  chain — it  will  complete  the  circle  of  the  State's 
charities,  which  will  then  embrace  every  class  whose  in- 
firmities call  for  public  aid."  Evidently  the  needs  of  one 
great  army  of  sufferers  had  never  appealed  even  to  the 
warm  heart  of  Dr.  Howe,  and  they  have  not  been  very 
well  understood  by  anyone ;  but,  when  teachers  can  work 
under  a  recognized  authority,  it  must  be  that  the  world 
will  respond  to  this  "last"  call  for  public  benevolence. 


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